SMART Group, Europe’s largest technical trade association focusing on surface mount and related technologies, announces that it will host “Reliability and Standards in Real Life: An IPC and SMART Group Perspective” on Thursday, 11^th September from 09.30 to 16.00 in the Sir Daniel Gooch Theatre of the STEAM – The Museum of the Great Western Railway on Fire Fly Avenue in Swindon, UK.

This informative one-day seminar event will focus on how the use of international standards can increase the reliability and quality of printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing and assembly processes, leading to reduced costs and increased profits.

Topics covered include:

• What quality and reliability problems can occur in PCBA?
• A tour through the entire production chain of a PCBA to see which IPC standards apply at each stage

• Do standards guarantee quality? What if your requirements lie outside the sphere of normal standards?

• What are the benefits of using internationally recognised standards and the framework they provide for controlling your own manufacturing processes or for working with a subcontractor.

• How PCB suppliers and electronics manufacturing consumables use standards to guarantee the quality of the product they provide to downstream customers.

• How quality and continuous improvement can be driven by adherence to standards by making these a key part of the initial PCB and process design.

Key industry experts will present the above-mentioned topics. Speakers include Lars Wallin, IPC European Representative; Karthik Vijay, Indium Corporation Europe, Technical Manager; Ashley Luxton, ,. Applications Engineer; Sue Knight, STI Ltd. and SMART Group Technical Committee Member; and Nigel Burtt, Renishaw and SMART Group Technical Committee Member.

This event is designed for anyone working in electronics manufacturing and design. Additionally, managers will benefit from a better understanding of the current standards issues in our industry. The costs for delegates include drinks, lunch and full access to all copies of the presentations immediately after the event. There also will be an opportunity for delegates to explore the museum during the lunch break at no extra cost.

Cost is £85 for SMART Group members/£175 for non-members + VAT for the event. For more information or to register, visit http://www.smartgroup.org/events-diary/ or email .