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INDUSTRY NEWS PACKAGING LEAD TIMES MAY CAUSE FURTHER SEMICONDUCTOR SHORTAGES


Despite hearing that the semiconductors shortage is easing, Sondrel is now warning of an issue in the supply chain that may cause further unexpected delays to orders. In the initial stages of the Covid pandemic,


packaging houses were badly hit by cancellation of orders and had to lay off staff or even close down. As silicon production surges, they are struggling to cope with the tsunami of orders – especially as it takes time to build new facilities and train staff. The result of this is that the lead time for packaging has increased from 8-9 weeks to as much as 50 weeks or more. Alaa Alani, Sondrel’s head of packaging,


explained: “The sequence of booking the stages in the supply chain has completely changed. Previously the design would be finished and then sent off to be made into wafers, which still takes around 12 weeks. At the same time, the details for the packaging would be sent to the packaging company so that was ready before the silicon. The new timelinemeans that the packaging design has


assigning die bumps and assigning their x/y coordinates relative to the die corner. Moving this stage to much earlier in the supply chain sequence avoids a massive and costly delay. The bump locations are determined for each


to be finished and booked 20 ormore weeks before the final silicon design to ensure that the silicon and packaging come together at the right time.” He went on to add that not being aware of this


and planning accordingly could introduce a delay in the production of a chip by as much as 40 weeks. As Sondrel offers a complete turnkey ASIC design and manufacturing service, the company spotted this growing problem in the supply chain a while back and has devised a solution to start the SoC package planning and design by


R&D SPENDING IN MANUFACTURING HIT RECORD HIGH LAST YEAR


According to latest ONS data, analysed by innovation funding specialist Catax, the manufacturing industry fought back last year, boosting the amount it spent on R&D by 6% to hit a record high – despite ongoing supply chain disruption. R&D spending is important to the UK economy because it creates skilled jobs and helps UK firms compete for revenue and foreign investment in globalised markets, particularly where new technology is concerned. The industry spent £16.9bn on R&D in 2021, up from £16bn invested in 2020. Quarterly R&D


spending also climbed slightly in Q4, reaching £4.24bn. The annual increase came despite continuing disruption to supply chains and labour markets caused by Covid-19, which had led to fears that levels of innovation could suffer. Mark Tighe, CEO of R&D tax relief consultancy Catax, commented: “UK manufacturers are


the nation’s big spenders when it comes to R&D, leaving all other industries in the shade. Its significance to the UK economy and labour market is hard to overstate, so it’s fantastic to see R&D spending climbing like this even before the country had escaped Covid’s long shadow.”


www.catax.com


BRANDAUER SECURES £500,000 OF FUNDING FOR NEW ELECTRIFICATION PROJECT


Birmingham-based Brandauer, a leading metal pressings specialist, has secured more than £500,000 of funding to help it develop new thin gauge laminates for use in an electrification project. The company is proving out a manufacturing


process for creating special stacks used in a new highly sustainable motor for the light commercial vehicle/off-highway sectors. £4m of consortium funding has come from


the Driving the Electric Revolution Challenge at UK Research and Innovation, with the consortium tasked with delivering, testing and validating pre-production of a highly sustainable motor with up to a 12kg reduction in rare earth magnets per machine. Mark Parsons, innovation project manager


at Brandauer, commented: “This is another exciting ‘win’ for us and reinforces our growing


6 DESIGN SOLUTIONS APRIL 2022


expertise in paper thin laminations for electric motor stators and rotors. “If the UK is going to lead the world in


electrification, we need to build supply chain capacity and new technology, which is why the UK-ALUMOTOR project is another important step forward in this aim.” He continued: “The market opportunity


is huge. At present, there are 63,000 electric light commercial vehicles made annually, but this is forecast to grow to 282,000 vehicles by 2026, continuing to rise to 345,000 vehicles two years later.” 15 staff at the Birmingham firm are expected


to be involved in the project, with the new Yamada 80 tonne press due to be used once production of the samples start.


www.brandauer.co.uk


of the macros and PHYs as specified by the IP vendors using the floor plan and the SoC partitions’ locations. For hard macros such as PCIe, HDMI and others, the bumps locations are specified by their relative offset from the macro corner whereas in soft macros (e.g., DDR), it is based on a certain pattern and a minimum pitch used in the bump assignment. Graham Curren, Sondrel’s founder and CEO,


added: “Our reputation is based on mitigating the risk of a customer’s project by ensuring the quality of our design work and keeping our fingers on the pulse of every stage of the supply chain to identify and solve issues so that the chips are delivered on schedule.”


www.sondrel.com NEWS INBRIEF


Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Group - part of Spirax-Sarco Engineering plc – has changed its name toWatson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions (WMFTS). AndrewMines,managing director of


WMFTS, comments: “This is a very exciting time forWatson-Marlow as we continue to witness a sustained period of growth. There is increasing demand for our quality products, solutions and engineering expertise across the life sciences, food and beverage, and industrialmarkets. Our priority has always been to deliver best-in-class solutions for our customers, and our new name and strategic vision emphasises this commitment. It will enable us to unlock the full potential of our brands, products and services...” www.wmfts.com/en/


A new electrochemical plasma process that reduces the surface roughness of 3D printed metal parts is to be added to Fintek’s subcontract services andmachine sales in an exclusive agreement withWallwork Heat Treatment. Palms, which stands for Plasma Additive LayerManufacture Smoothing has been developed byWallwork’s Cambridge research and development centre and the Manchestermachine build division. www.wallworkht.co.uk


LVD Company nv has acquired the solutions business unit of KUKA Automatisering + Robotics nv in Houthalen-Helchteren, Belgiumto launch the new company, LVD Robotic Solutions bv. LVD Robotic Solutions bv will significantly advance LVD’s expertise and market reach in robotics automation. The new entity will build on LVD’s experience with engineering robotic systems for sheet metalworking, centered on no robot teaching, high throughput, and fast ‘art to part’. www.kuka.com


www.lvdgroup.com


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