Creating a New Optoelectronics Standard: Specifications for Process Carriers Used to Handle Optical Fibers in Manufacturing
The lack of consistency and compatibility in process carrier designs was cited as an early barrier to automation in the
nascent fiber-optics industry. Under the auspices of the National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI),a working
group comprised of companies from both the equipment and OEM sectors banded together to address this important
technical area. As the group began work,the IPC brought an established standards development and deployment process to
the table,which greatly enhanced the group's productivity and accelerated the eventual publication of the standard.
This paper will document the standards creation process as viewed from one of the working group authors,highlighting
both the challenges and solutions derived during the development of IPC-8413-1.