Newsroom
NEMI to Kick Off 2002 Roadmap March 20-22 in the Silicon Valley
Any Organization Involved in the North American
Electronics Manufacturing Supply Chain can Participate
Press Contacts at bottom of page
HERNDON, Va. · December 17, 2001 · The National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) today announced that the kick-off meeting for its 2002 roadmap is scheduled for March 20-22 in the San Jose area. The two-day meeting will begin the six-month industry-led process of identifying technology and infrastructure developments required to ensure the competitiveness of North American electronics manufacturing companies.
This roadmap, the fifth one developed by the consortium, will cover 19 technology, infrastructure and business practice areas expected to have the greatest effect on electronics manufacturing (see addendum). As in previous years, it will address the shifts in each of these areas, along with the related technology gaps and business needs.
"The NEMI roadmap brings together OEMs, EMS providers and their suppliers to gauge future needs of the electronics manufacturing industry," said Jim McElroy, executive director and CEO of NEMI. "It helps companies anticipate shifts in product requirements and provides an early warning of changes in technology or infrastructure that will be required to remain competitive in the global marketplace."
Jim Arnold of Motorola and former director of planning for NEMI, will lead the 2002 roadmapping effort as director of roadmapping, assisted by Chuck Richardson as staff manager of roadmapping.
"Developing this roadmap is an important task, especially given the economic upheaval the industry has faced in the past year," said Arnold. "Our members tell us that they rely on the NEMI roadmap to identify important technology and business trends and to provide insights into customer needs. It often serves as a foundation for their strategic plans, or as a validation of their own strategies."
McElroy says that, while earlier roadmaps dealt exclusively with technology needs, the scope has expanded in recent years to consider business practices. "We recognize that good business practices can be as critical to companies as the technologies in their products," he explained.
"That's why more recent roadmaps have included chapters on supply chain management, enterprise information technology and factory information systems. In addition, each of the roadmap chapters - one for each of the 19 technology and infrastructure areas covered - will address business issues and climate impacting their respective areas."
The chapters are developed by Technology Working Groups (TWGs). These groups forecast trends for their respective areas, and compare those trends with anticipated product manufacturing needs which have been defined for "virtual products" from five sectors: (1) consumer, (2) portable, (3) office systems, (4) business systems and (5) automotive & aerospace. Included in each sector's discussions are future product attributes plus key cost and density drivers. The NEMI, SIA and IPC roadmaps all use the same product sectors. This year, NEMI is recommending changes to the sectors, as indicated by this list, to more accurately reflect today's product configurations. Previously, the sectors were defined as (1) low cost, (2) hand held, (3) cost/performance, (4) high performance and (5) harsh environment. The new product sector definitions will be reviewed by the National Electronics Roadmap Coordinating Committee for integration into all electronics industry roadmaps.
Kick-Off Meeting Details
The NEMI roadmap kick-off meeting will be held in the Silicon Valley, beginning the evening of Wednesday, March 20, and ending at noon on Friday, March 22. NEMI member Sanmina-SCI will host all meetings at the company's Santa Clara location (445 El Camino Real).
Roadmap discussions begin with a review of the five product emulators. Product sector chairpersons will present the technology trends anticipated for their respective areas. There will also be a review of the 2001 Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) roadmap, with emphasis on silicon requirements for packaging. The Technical Working Groups will then have the opportunity to caucus, organize, examine the new product emulator input and get clarification of any issues. Anyone interested in getting involved should contact NEMI at 703-834-0330 or info@nemi.org, or go to www.nemi.org.
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 more than 60 electronics equipment 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.
Press contact: Cynthia Williams
phone: 207-871-1260
cwilliams@nemi.org
ADDENDUM
Technology Working Groups (TWGs):
Semiconductor Devices
- Digital Silicon Technology
Business Processes/Technologies
- Product Lifecycle Information Management
Design Technologies
- Modeling, simulation & design tools
- Thermal management
- Environmentally conscious electronics
Manufacturing Technologies
- Board assembly
- Test, inspection & measurement
- Final assembly
Component/Subsystem Technologies
- Connectors
- Packaging
- Interconnectisubstrates - organic
- Interconnect substrates - ceramic
- Passive components
- RF components
- Optoelectronics
- Displays
- Mass data storage
- Energy storage systems
Product Sector Definitions:
Automotive and Aerospace Products: The environmental extremes for products in this sector are varied and harsh. They reflect the unrelenting demand for lowest cost, and the moderate volumes of the automotive sector, as well as low production volumes and custom designs found in aerospace applications. In both cases, design goals are to achieve the required quality and reliability with an expected useful life of up to 20 years. Military products, which require the highest levels of reliability and durability over a useful life of up to 40 years, are a subset of this sector and are differentiated by low to modest production volumes.
Consumer Products: These products include low-cost cell phones, personal computers, Internet appliances, personal digital assistants (PDAs), video games, etc. This sector is characterized by lowest possible cost abetted by high production volumes. Although cost is paramount (typically <$500), the level of technology may be quite high. Useful life is two to four years.
Portable Products: Although manufacturing costs are extremely important, products in this emulator are driven by weight and size considerations. Products are small in size and of minimum weight, but may have high levels of function. Examples are 2.5G and 3G cell phones, wireless PDAs, notebook computers, navigational aids, etc. Volumes may be large but lower than those in the consumer products category. The useful life is typically three to five years.
Office System Products: These products are characterized by designs that aspire to maximize performance, while restraining costs to a few thousand dollars (typically $1K - 5K). This sector encompasses low-end servers, telecommunication line cards and high-end personal computers, both desktop and portable. Volumes are moderate compared to consumer products, and typical useful life is four to six years.
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Large Business System Products: These products are characterized by designs that trade pure performance for cost. Typical applications are supercomputers, the most powerful servers, central switching systems and high data transmission rate routers that are at or near state-of-the-art performance. High performance requirements drive the need for more expensive packaging, advanced interconnections and highest performance devices. Production volumes are low to moderate. The typical useful life is up to 20 years.
Supercomponent: Not a true emulator, but a package concept that drives certain technologies, characterized by the concept of "system on a package" (SoP). This cuts across product emulator lines, as it may be used in any of the above to solve particular situations where silicon integration is not capable of providing total function. Instead, a dense package with multiple semiconductor devices and/or passive components may provide a functional building block that is subsequently attached to a card or board.