Did you ever hear the expression, "think like a 12-year-old"? Meaning a 12-year-old has enough learning to address a problem but not so much experience that they rule out possible solutions.
I have a five-year-old nephew who just loves to figure out how things work and how to use them. The other day at a picnic as all of us adults tried without success to unscrew the top to a giant container of pretzels he pointed out that there was a piece of plastic that had to be pulled off first to release the lid. Now in my own defense it wasn't well marked and he was right at the eye level to see the key bit of plastic, but still he solved with his brain what we couldn't solve with our muscle.
I don't want to say we have a lot of 12-year-old minds (or even 5-year-old minds) working here, but I have seen a lot of innovation here at Indium.
One of the most interesting innovations we have developed (and possibly simplest) is Solder Fortification® Preforms. There are many instances when solder paste stencilling just doesn't leave enough solder paste to form a strong enough joint. Either the joint has additional strength requirements (like a connector) or a thin stencil is being used and there is no way to get enough solder down efficiently.
The solution is to add a solid piece of solder (no flux added) into the paste deposit to increase the volume of solder. These solder preforms come in standard sizes (similar to component sizes), standard alloys (to match your solder paste alloy) and are packaged in tape and reel so your in line pick and place equipment can easily be used to add the solder preform. You can try out an evaluation reel through our ecommerce site or by contacting us at esolders@indium.com.