|
Home | About SEC/N | Membership | Initiatives | News | Events | Search |
|
|
Events Calendar SEC/N Member Conference - July 14 - 15, 2005 SEC/N’s Annual Meeting and Conference were held this year at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel in conjunction with SEMICON West 2005. The Annual Meeting began at 8:30 AM and featured the election of five new members to SEC/N’s Board of Directors. Steve Grundon – TIP Electronics (3 year term) Note: SEC/N members will be able to view the minutes of the Annual Meeting and Conference presentations under the “Members Only Section” of this website.
SEC/N’s President, Tim Hayden, opened the Conference with an overview of SEC/N’s organization, membership value and fees. He continued with a review of the accomplishments and challenges faced by SEC/N during the past year.
Tom Moon went on to announce that there were currently 54 members of SEC/N, with several more expressing an interest after SEC/N’s very successful three days at SEMICON West. He also reviewed revisions to the member application process and the new member participation form. Kyle Schroeder (SEC/N’s 1st Vice President / Team ATE) overviewed SEC/N’s regional council program and introduced Ron Melief (European Regional Council) and Tim Nishikawa (Japan Regional Council). Ron Melief (ASML) reported that organizational efforts had hit a snag in that SEC/N’s standard operating procedure (SOP) requires a minimum of five member companies in a region before a council can be organized and funded. SEC/N currently only has three member companies in Europe, although there are other SEC/N member companies who have operations in Europe and would be eligible to participate with the ERC, once one is formed. Tim Nishikawa (Sumisho Lease) is the Chairperson of SEC/N’s Japan Regional Council (JRC). Tim reported that the JRC currently has 13 members and has experienced some turnover in the past year. The JRC requested more support (both programs and financial) from SEC/N and looks forward to expanding the JRC’s activities in the future to include more than just repeating the very successful seminars it has co-produced with SEMI Japan during the past three years at SEMICON Japan. Bill Scaife (Group 5) is the Champion for SEC/N’s Ethics Task Force. Bill reviewed both past efforts and the recommendations that the task force made at the January 2005 SEC/N Conference. Based on Bill’s presentation, the Conference attendees recommended that SEC/N’s Board of Directors:
A sit down luncheon was provided for all the attendees and speakers adjacent to the Conference meeting room.
The last two hours of the Conference were dedicated to the topic of intellectual property. Steve Grundon (Task Force Champion / TIP Electronics) made a short presentation on the results of the Intellectual Property survey. The initial survey was sent to 16 SEC/N and non SEC/N companies requesting a copy of their written software and parts policies. No responses were received. The subsequent survey requested a response to 6 software and 3 parts questions. Six companies responded to the modified survey. The responses were presented at the meeting without disclosing the specific OEM names. Bill Wilson (SEMATECH) and Steve McGovern (SEMATECH) made brief presentations on how the SEMATECH member companies would like software and parts policies to be constructed. Following their presentations, breakout sessions were held on software and parts. Action items from the software breakout session included: 1) modify and limit the scope of the survey to determine which OEM’s require software re-licensing for used equipment; 2) obtain contact names and addresses from each OEM for customers to use in requesting information regarding software re-licensing; and 3) prepare an article for industry publication to outline the economic, market impact and stakeholder positions of software re-licensing policies. The action items from the parts breakout session included the need for: 1) SEC/N to take a more active role in ascertaining and publishing the position of all OEM’s towards their legacy tools and systems, 2) the members of the SEMATECH Surplus Equipment Council (SSEC) to formally publish a joint resolution of the SSEC’s expectations for OEM support of legacy tools and systems, and 3) device manufacturers worldwide to actively support SEC/N’s efforts in proactively addressing issues (such as IP) for the good of all participants in the electronics secondary equipment market. The Conference was adjourned at 4:55 PM with the reminder that the next SEC/N Conference is to be held in Tempe, Arizona, starting with a golf tournament on January 23, 2006. |
||||
The
SEC/N Conference directly followed the Annual Meeting. Non-members were
welcome to attend the Conference subject to invitation and
pre-registration.
Tom
Moon, SEC/N’s Membership Chairperson, followed with a recognition of the
companies who have joined SEC/N since the last Conference this past
January in Las Vegas. Information on these and other SEC/N member
companies can found under the “Membership Section” of this
website.
Gary
Atkins (Babcock and Brown) and Rich Ringler (B.E.S.T.) respectively are
the outgoing and incoming Program Chairpersons. They overviewed plans
for developing future programs and requested the SEC/N members to submit
their comments and suggestions. Updates on specific programs (“Tools”)
followed their presentation.
Tim
Hayden closed the morning session with a presentation on the need to
maximize SEC/N’s resources and emphasize deliverables, and announced
plans for a “Lowering Your Risk” Seminar on October 13, 2005 at the
Hyatt Hotel in San Jose, California. More information on this Seminar is
available on SEC/N’s website.
After
a recognition of Conference attendees, the Conference’s afternoon
session was keynoted by Mr. Mark Ding, the President of SEMI China. Mr.
Ding emphasized the importance of used equipment and support services to
China’s growing electronics industry and provided insight on China’s
fabs of the future as well as anticipated growth factors of the Chinese
market.
Ms.
Lisa Tang, of the U.S. Commercial Service Office in Shanghai, China was
the next speaker. Ms. Tang reviewed the opportunities which the U.S.
Commercial Service provides to U.S. companies wishing to do business
internationally, with specific emphasis on doing business in China.
The
third topic of the afternoon session on “What’s Happening Around the
World,” was the potential impact of compliance directives, such as WEEE
and RoHS on the international secondary market. Mr. Rick Row (SEMI) and
Ms. Kathy Queirolo (Teradyne) made an excellent presentation on the
history, current status, and possible future ramifications as countries
pursue the implementation of such initiatives and directives.
|
|