NEMI Launches DPMO Project; Group to Assemble Data by Package and Technology Type.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

HERNDON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 1, 2003

The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI), an industry-led consortium focused on strengthening the North American supply chain, has launched a project aimed at benchmarking DPMO (defects per million opportunities) rates for printed circuit board (PCB) assemblies. The project team plans to assemble DPMO data by package and technology type in an effort to help manufacturers benchmark their own relative quality performance.

"As the complexity of electronic assemblies increases, manufacturers are faced with the prospect of declining yields, increasing test and inspection costs, higher levels of scrap and rework, and longer product cycle times," said Tim Kruse, chairman of the DPMO Project and a test project engineer at Plexus Corp. "By providing data that quantifies the expected fault spectrum on a particular PCB assembly, we hope to help manufacturers more accurately assess the cost of assembly, test, repair and scrap, as well as estimate the shipped product quality level of a product. DPMO data by package and technology type will allow them to better estimate manufacturing costs and delivered quality so that they can make strategic decisions about investment of resources."

The DPMO Project is a spin-off of NEMI's recently completed Test Strategy Project, which was chaired by Amit Verma of Teradyne. Recognizing that there was additional work on which NEMI members could collaborate beyond the scope of the initial Test Strategy Project, Verma initiated efforts to organize the DPMO Project.

Leading the newly formed project with Kruse is co-chair David Mendez of Solectron Corporation. The project currently has 15 participants: Agilent Technologies, Alcatel Canada, Celestica Inc., Georgia Institute of Technology, Delphi Delco Electronics Systems, Hewlett-Packard Company, Motorola Inc., Nortel Networks, Plexus Corp., Sanmina-SCI, Shipley Company, Solectron Corporation, Teradyne Inc., Universal Instruments Corporation and Vitronics Soltec.

Kruse says the project will coordinate with similar efforts at IPC and the SMART Group (Surface Mount and Related Technologies) in the UK, and anticipates that project results may lead to recommendations for changes to IPC standards 7912 (Calculation of DPMO & Manufacturing Indices for Printed Board Assemblies) and 9261 (In-Process DPMO and Estimated Yield for PWAs).

About NEMI

The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative's mission is to facilitate leadership of the North American electronics manufacturing supply chain. Based in Herndon, Va., the industry-led consortium is made up of approximately 65 electronics manufacturers, suppliers, industry associations and consortia, government agencies and universities. NEMI roadmaps the needs of the North American electronics industry, identifies gaps in the technology infrastructure, establishes implementation projects to eliminate these gaps (both business and technical), and stimulates standards activities to speed the introduction of new technologies. The consortium also works with government, universities and other funding agencies to set priorities for future industry needs and R&D initiatives. For additional information about NEMI, visit www.nemi.org.