For this reason, there is no corresponding amendment to IPC-A-610G. Its content, however, does not affect the synergy with IPC-A-610G. It is important to note here that J-STD-001 has a Revision G Amendment 1, released in October 2018. The current revision “G” of J-STD-001 states, “When IPC J-STD-001 is cited or required by contract, the requirements of IPC-A-610 do not apply unless separately or specifically required…” while revision “G” for IPC-A-610 states, “When IPC-A-610 is cited or required by contract as a standalone document for inspection and/or acceptance, the requirements of IPC J-STD-001, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies do not apply unless separately and specifically required….” That effort continues today.Īs organizations choose to implement J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 in their operations, they see the documents give a nod to each other early in their respective content and address those curious about their similarities. This undertaking by the task groups to work together was quickly deemed a “synergy” effort. Recognizing there was a need in the soldering community for this type of approach, IPC provided the forum for the developing task groups to start working together on an effort to find common ground on the criteria that crossed over from one document to the other.
There was no direct implementation solution with the criteria as they were presented. It was impossible for those who wanted to utilize the process requirements from J-STD-001 and take advantage of the pictures and additional acceptance criteria in IPC-A-610 to use them in the same manufacturing environment without considerable tailoring. In the late 1990s as the standards matured and content started to grow, the task groups started looking at the acceptance criteria in each document for soldered connections and realized they were not the same. They did not consider what the other group was doing as they worked. Despite some crossover in membership, the task groups wore their J-STD-001 or IPC-A-610 “hats” and would think in terms of process or inspection when considering changes to the individual documents. This means comments were submitted to the documents, discussed and dispositioned without influence from the other task group’s development activities. Developed for different purposes by different task groups, development and revision activities for these two documents were worked independently for several revision cycles. In 1992, J-STD-001 was released to address the materials, methods and acceptance criteria for soldering. IPC-A-610 was initially released in 1983 with a scope declaring it as a collection of visual quality acceptability requirements for electronic assemblies. IPC’s Simplified Standards Tree shows the relationship of the main standards.
How to make the standards work together for an organization requires knowledge and a deliberate systematic approach to deployment.įigure 1. It is important to understand what is behind those words. That seems simple, but they are also very different. The standards complement one another, and where J-STD-001 provides process and materials requirements, IPC-A-610 provides acceptance criteria. Ask the dedicated volunteers of the development task groups what the documents address in the work of electronics assembly, and they will quickly tell you J-STD-001 is for the soldering process and IPC-A-610 is for inspection. J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 have been around for decades. Within the assembly standards, we see J-STD-001 first, followed by IPC-A-610, and this is where the story of using the two documents together starts. The standards in the trunk tell a story from data transfer and design, to materials and printed board fabrication, and then to printed board assembly. When we look at IPC’s Simplified Standards Tree (FIGURE 1), we see IPC’s most widely used standards in the trunk of the tree and the supporting standards in the branches on either side of the trunk. To understand how to implement J-STD-001, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies and IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies, we must first understand each individual standard. But those planning to use both must identify who is responsible for key requirements.