Innovative contracting in infrastructure design and maintenance
This paper describes the results of research into the contract arrangements and design processes for contractors in the road infrastructure industry. The changing institutional environment has led the industry to believe that more opportunities can be realised to the benefit of society (lower cost, higher quality, more efficient design and design process) when contractors are allowed more 'design freedom' in their contracts with governments. We have explored the technical design space, and developed a framework to structure this space. Next, we identified, through many indepth interviews and case studies, a number of technical, organisational and institutional opportunities, threats and barriers for granting more design space. Finally, the paper discusses the conclusions that could be drawn from the mapping of the opportunities onto the bottlenecks, and it shows that much can indeed be gained, but that many of these opportunities for cost reduction or value improvement are hampered by large, inert institutional settings.
Experiences from Procurement of Integrated Bridge Maintenance in Sweden
The trend in many countries is to outsource maintenance with competitive tendering. The design of the tender is then a crucial issue. A new type of tendering contract, called "Integrated Bridge Mai ...
Multilayer high density flex technology
The industrial trend of shrinking microelectronic devices while increasing the density of interconnections places great demands on the substrates upon which these devices are packaged. Multilayer flex circuits will provide the interconnection densities needed to meet these demands in a wide range of packaging and interconnection technologies. This paper discusses the development of ultra-high density flexible circuits. Processes and materials to fabricate fine line pitches from 12.5 /spl mu/m to 40 /spl mu/m are examined. Various microvia structures, through hole and blind via, are demonstrated. A test vehicle was designed and built for BGA packages to illustrate the density capability. A four-layer structure is demonstrated by using Z-connection to connect two layer pairs. Electrical, mechanical, and reliability test results are presented to show the selection of flex substrate material, Z-connection methodology and fabrication processes. A cost comparison of high-density flex to alternative substrates is discussed to identify potential.