Reading time ( words)
Having served as a past president (on its 10th anniversary), a board member of the organization, and being an SMT industry lifer, I hold especially profound sentiment and affection toward the marching milestones of the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA).
With a grand mission, SMTA is an international network of professionals who build skills, share practical experience and develop solutions in electronic assembly technologies, including microsystems, emerging technologies, and related business operations. The organization offers continuing education, as well as career and professional networking for both members and the industry. Most importantly, the organization delivers the right information at the right time to empower the workforce, who collectively advances technology, innovates new products, and serves the global industry.
Initially founded to deploy the surface mount technology, SMTA has served as the backbone of electronics manufacturing for more than three decades. It enables the manufacture of advanced electronics products that are beneficial to virtually all walks of life. The continuing increase in electronics content of products across industry sectors has made the electronics industry the largest employer at the turn of the century. Electronics miniaturization and advancement have been phenomenal, for which SMT has served as the critical manufacturing technology.
Surface mount technology is deemed to be one of the most significant and substantial developments in the electronics era, after the semiconductor. Embracing that the transistor density of integrated circuits doubles every 18 months, and that the advanced chip packaging evolves in synchronization, SMT continues to transform electronics manufacturing. To this end, SMTA has played an essential role in helping the industry advance and produce ever-higher performance products.
As a professional organization, SMTA has demonstrated its sustained ability to embrace new technologies to meet members’ changing needs and wants. The organization relishes the growth and diversity of SMTA membership and its global reach and network. Its membership spans around the world, comprising more than 40 chapters across the United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Hong Kong, India, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Israel. Today, the organization offers rich resources to the workforce, including knowledge-base, publications, training, bookstore, certification, webinars, and tutorials.
