InterviewTitle
while still attaining perfect reflow on all At R&D Technical
sections of the product. Services, you’ve
Other key elements are the uniformity seen a recent resur-
and repeatability of vapor phase and the gence of interest in
way it transfers heat. No longer are you vapor phase reflow.
required to deliver excessive amounts of To what do you
Mission Possible.
heat through IR or hot air to get all portions credit this revival?
of the component to heat evenly. There is
A number of factors
no shadowing, reflection or deflection of
Versatility that beats complexity.
have contributed.
heat in the vapor phase process. It’s not just a promise, it’s a fact!
Lead-free solder has
Some of the issues facing the rework
certainly played a
industry today include excessive heat,
role. The higher
uneven heat and the migration of the heat
melting points of
to other areas of the circuit board. Vapor
lead-free solder
phase rework effectively solves these issues.
have forced many
reflow methods
Why is R&D Technical Services so
into uncomfortably
important to the current electronics
high temperatures.
industry? What do you provide that
Unable to transfer
competitors cannot?
heat as effectively
Aside from the fact that vapor phase is
and consistently as
a product whose time has come, I think
vapor phase, they
R&D Technical Services has been successful
are forced in some
for a several reasons, namely quality, value
instances to push
and customer support. It starts by working
maximum tempera-
to build only the highest quality equipment
tures to unaccept-
using only the highest quality materials.
able levels. They are
We then couple this with experience. Ray
simply unable to
Willett and I have more than 50 years of
close the window
combined vapor phase experience—we
between reflow and
know what works.
peak temperatures
After building a quality piece of
as efficiently as
equipment, we take our knowledge and
vapor phase, which
apply it to customer support, treating every
successful process.
can place reliability and consistency at risk.
customer with respect. We know a large
I feel all these factors have played a
I would say mor
portion of our business is from customer
2008-11-24 FA 87x124 Global SMT & Packaging 2.indd 1
e difficult components
part in this vapor phase resurgence.
11/5/2008 2:07:29 PM
and board architecture also have played a
referral and word of mouth. When your
part. More densely populated boards and
name is on the product, you take your
How does the rest of 2008 and into 2009
more demanding components lend
reputation seriously. I think the reputation
look for R&D Technical Services?
themselves to much easier reflow using
of our products and our company is very
vapor phase and its condensation method
Projections are always part science, part
high amongst our customers. It is our goal
black magic and part guess work. Right
now, R&D Technical Services is on track
for 2008 to be its best year ever. In the first
“This is the same reason that vapor
half of 2008, we posted the best six-month
numbers in our 12-year history. With the
phase reflow is gaining ground in the
renewed interest in vapor phase, I expect
growth from 2009 as well.
reflow industry—the ability to limit
As a company, we will continue to
expand our reach, pushing into more
the maximum temperature while still
emerging economies and strengthening
our position in regions where we are
already strong. We will continue to be the
attaining perfect reflow on all sections
leader in developing new approaches and
applications for vapor phase, and will work
of the product.”
to make our vapor phase rework station
an influential player in the rework market.
R&D Technical Services will continue
of heat transfer.
to be the best at what we do from high-
to keep it that way. At R&D Technical
Vapor phase ovens have evolved as well
quality, high-value equipment to hands-on
Services, customer support is not just a tag
with better controls, better containment,
customer support.
line, it is a way of life, and I think even in
higher quality construction and, quite
today’s world people take note of that.
frankly, more interest by the industry in
taking an unbiased evaluation of a mature
www.globalsmt.net Global SMT & Packaging – December 2008 – 27
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