The conference and exhibition got off to a good start with an official reception by the Mayor of Bournemouth on Tuesday evening where attendees could relax and chat—a pleasant way to meet old friends and to make new acquaintances.
Situated in Scotland's ‘Silicon Glen’ and close to two of Scotland's great championship golf courses, Royal Troon and Turnberry, is Ayr's rurally located Mosshill Industrial Estate — home to Prestwick Multitech Ltd. In the heart of Robert Burns' country and just two miles from a coastline whose climate is reputedly tempered by the Gulf Stream, Prestwick Multitech is the multilayer manufacturing subsidiary of the Interconnection Division of Prestwick Holdings plc.
I was an invited speaker to the ISHM‐Benelux meeting. As I arrived early, I also sat in on the committee meeting as an observer. Jos B. Peeters was the outgoing president and the incoming committee was widened to about 15 members compared with the previous 6. Following the unanimous election of all those nominated, the committee reconvened and elected Mr Kwikkers as the new president of ISHM‐Benelux. He is a professor at the Technische Hogeschole in Delft.
A month or so after the Stresa meeting, the French ISHM chapter, organising a session on ‘Gallic inks’ (!), summoned me to deliver some comments on the 5th European Hybrid Microelectronics Conference. Although it was only a matter of interlude during this technical session, I felt the task quite a difficult one. It became a hazardous project when Brian C. Waterfield kindly asked me to let what is in fact a personal opinion—my personal opinion, standing back from my daily work—appear in Hybrid Circuits. I'll do my best.
A two‐day symposium will be hosted by the ISHM‐Can‐Am Chapter in Ottawa, Canada, on 19–20 June 1985. The event will concentrate on advances in Surface Mounted Technology and topics covered will include design rules and critical process parameters, multi‐stage attachment methods, advances in cleaning processes and fluids, robotic insertion of non‐standard components, automatic inspection, etc. A Tutorial will be held concurrently on rework techniques for surface mounted devices.
The ISHM—Japan Chapter, comprising some 500 members, was represented at ISHM '84 by 60 members, 30 of whom attended as a group. Twelve papers were presented by Japanese delegates at the Conference held in the Loews Anatole Hotel from 17–19 October.
Situated to the south of Trondheim and just 50 kilometres from the Swedish border, Roros is a fine example of a small town which found that its traditional industry had come to an abrupt halt and, with that realisation, set to establishing alternative industry to provide employment for the inhabitants and income for the businesses of the town. Curiously enough, it is the industry that had provided Roros with its livelihood since Hans Olsen Aasen first started mining copper in the area over 300 years ago that is the provider of much of the new income. Now one of the 70 monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List, Roros has become a popular tourist attraction, where the smelting works including the slag heaps and the mine at Olav, which has been preserved exactly as it was the day it closed in 1972 owing to bankruptcy, and the ancient wooden houses of the workers must remain externally at any rate preserved in their original condition. Other new industries include windscreen manufacture, chair making including a novel ‘posture control’ design, a tweed mill and the Hybrid Circuit manufacturing plant of Autronica.
As I considered my theme for this editorial, I could not help asking myself just how International ISHM really is. Are we really part of one great family of engineers all preoccupied with exploiting a technology that is significant today and will be even more so in the future as more and more complex requirements for interconnect are contrived, or is the Society something to which each individual country or continent belongs for what can be got out of it at the present moment, with little thought of the advantages the true breadth of ISHM membership should offer? Today a large part of the electronics activity is centred around the transmission and utilisation of information, so surely we of all people should take some advantage of this and ensure that we communicate with each other as this after all is one of the original aims of the Society.
The International Electronic Components Show in Paris in November, 1983, provided the occasion for a very successful meeting of ISHM‐France which attracted 170 attendees. The following presentations were given:
Less than an hour from New York and just off the Long Island Freeway lies Farmingdale which, apart from containing a very large war cemetery, has a well ordered industrial park. Here on Smith Street is to be found CTI, an autonomous company within GEC's Marconi Electronic Devices Ltd.
The CIT‐Alcatel Group, with a turnover of more than 10 billion French francs, is a subsidiary of the huge ‘Compagnie Générale d'Electricité’ and is deeply involved in the telecommunications industry. It is particularly known for its experience in digital techniques. 6000 of its 40,000 workforce are employed abroad, and with an increasing number of turnkey telecommunication systems installed in so many countries they will undoubtedly have a large share of the message‐handling and office automation markets in addition to direct speech business. Their E10, time‐division switching system ordered by 30 countries, alone represents 10·5 million subscriber lines to 1982.
As a result of reorganisation within the Company, AVX Limited have appointed Keith France as General Manager, Sales and Marketing. Previously General Manager, Sales, Europe, Mr France now assumes the added responsibility for the marketing of AVX products throughout Europe.
As a result of reorganisation within the Company, AVX Limited have appointed Keith France as General Manager, Sales and Marketing. Previously General Manager, Sales, Europe, Mr France now assumes the added responsibility for the marketing of AVX products throughout Europe.
