Cradle to grave
07 October 2006
Michael Zahn, Product Manager, VectorGuard, of DEK Printing Machines says that the most efficient and least-risk approach for vendors of assembly technologies to meet the demands of modern assemblers is to actively manage each enabling technology from birth to obsolescence.
To keep pace with the short lifecycles of modern electronic technologies and end user products, manufacturing businesses are keeping their technology partners on their toes. They are dependent on a constant stream of innovations in order to simultaneously create and satisfy new desires within their target markets. Fundamentally, they need to build high-tech products smaller, more quickly and more efficiently.
This trend has reached fever pitch. Commentators are now suggesting that successive assembly technologies will have a lifespan of only around five years, before even more powerful techniques are necessary to meet the demands of modern consumer and industrial, scientific and medical markets.
Developers of assembly technologies and associated IP and services must respond proactively to these pressures. Development cannot be left to chance, or indeed, to rely on customers to direct future technology directions. Of course, all new innovations must be conceived to meet customers' actual demands. But those who do not take the future of their own technologies into their own hands, and take responsibility for its direction and the speed of advancement, will be quickly left behind by the sheer pace of modern markets and those who are building products to fulfill them.
Technology developers must actively product-manage new tools and techniques to correctly identify needs within markets and move quickly enough to satisfy those needs.
In technology terms, there can be no more outdated or inappropriate adage that 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' This motto may still have some uninspired enterprises from making big mistakes, but the biggest risks today are incurred by standing still and by failing to anticipate coming demands.
The pace of progress in the 21st century will quickly obsolete any modern technological solution so it is better to fix it now.
To continue to meet their customers' demands, modern technology providers must focus the best brains in their organisations to extract every last ounce of potential from current products through innovation and evolution. This activity must cont9inue in parallel with development of completely new products to support future manufacturing technologies. One way to achieve this is to set up powerful product management teams comprising experienced technical and business staff, tasked with evolving and advancing individual products according to an agreed and realistic schedule.
Even with a well-structured approach to product management, success is not guaranteed. The future of the product and, in some cases, the enterprise are dependent on evolutions that are genuine improvements, that are relevant to the challenges faced by customers, and that satisfy widely recognised needs within the market.
To set the right course for a product's lifetime, and to map out that course at a rate that pre-empts market requirements by just the right margin, the product management team must combine several strands of knowledge. Keeping up to data with the latest relevant research into assembly technologies produced by academia and industry is essential to set the general path of development. An eye on end user markets provides a vital perspective on the items customers will be building in the near and medium terms. Talking to customers is fundamental to both strategic and tactical development of any product. Product managers can and must be engaging their customers in this way every day, if they are to play their part in driving forward each successive generation of assembly technologies.
When DEK introduced the VectorGuard frameless stencil system, it was a significant breakthrough in stencil technology. It was easy to use, safer in operation and more environmentally friendly than some preceding stencil technologies. A complete VectorGuard stencil comprises the metal foil featuring the electro-formed or laser cut apertures, four extruded aluminum edges crimped onto the foil, and four plastic corner pieces. The stencil is easy to use and safe to handle, thanks to the extruded edges, and easy to disassemble for easy recycling.
The company has implemented a product management structure around VectorGuard, to extend the capabilities as well as the market reach of this technology.
The product managers are tasked with introducing at least four new innovations to VectorGuard per year. For example, DEK has recently announced VectorGuard PumpPrint stencils, which successfully transfer the VectorGuard benefits of easy storage and to use high-speed printing of adhesives. VectorGuard electro-foam stencils have also merged, to allow assemblers to achieve extremely high resolution suitable for wafer-level processes. Another innovation is nickel laser cut VectorGuard stencils, which address the requirements of lead-free printing at the highest possible repeatability. The next key objective for VectorGuard will be to support semiconductor wafer bumping and packaging processes.
VectorGuard product managers perform strategic product management role alongside ongoing customer support activities and are therefore familiar with the challenges and opportunities faced by customers who actually use screen printing on a daily basis.
Another function of the product managers is to build partnerships with technology developers and selected licensees to bring the inputs of all stakeholders to bear to ensure the future success of the product. Continuous and rapid evolution of VectorGuard will also allow licensees to serve more customers and address more markets with convenient, cost-effective and high performance solution.
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