Phil Zarrow

President and Principal Consultant
ITM Consulting

Phil Zarrow has been involved with hybrid and PCB assembly for more than twenty-five years. His expertise includes the manufacture of equipment for circuit board fabrication and assembly of through-hole and surface mount technologies.

In addition to his background in automated assembly and cleaning, Mr. Zarrow is recognized for his expertise in surface mount reflow soldering technology and in the design and implementation of SMT placement equipment and reflow soldering systems.

Having held key technical and management positions with Vitronics Corporation, Excellon-Micronetics and Universal Instruments Corporation, he has extensive hands-on experience with set-up and troubleshooting through-hole and SMT processes throughout the world.

In 1991, Phil began working for GSS/Array Technology, an EMS provider located in San Jose, CA. During his tenure as Director of Technology Development for GSS/Array Technology, Mr. Zarrow was responsible for specifying and setting up medium and high speed assembly lines, as well as investigating and implementing emerging and leading-edge technologies, equipment and processes.

Since forming ITM in 1993, Phil Zarrow has helped numerous clients in such areas as:

• SMT Implementation and Assembly facility set-up
• Manufacturing yield improvement
• Equipment Evaluation and Selection
• No-clean solder paste evaluation and process implementation
• Lead-free Road-mapping
• SMT Manufacturing Process Audits and process improvement
• On-site training for all levels of personnel
• Design for Manufacturability (DFM) specification development
• Reflow of Through-hole feasibility, development and implementation
• Implementation of BGA, CSP and Flip-Chip
• SMT process equipment benchmark testing and evaluation
• SMT product development
• Technical evaluations related to business acquisitions and mergers
• Technical assistance in legal disputes

Mr. Zarrow is a popular speaker and workshop instructor. He has chaired and instructed at numerous seminars and conferences in North America, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. He has published many technical papers and magazine articles as well as contributed a number of chapters to industry books. He is co-author of SMT Glossary - Terms and Definitions, an industry reference book.

Phil is a member of IPC, SME, IMAPS, a co-founder of ITM Incorporated, and is a past national level officer and national director of the Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA). He was also Chairman of the Reflow Committee for SMEMA. He was the recipient of the SMTA's Member of Distinction Award (1995) and Founders' Award (2000). Mr. Zarrow has served on the Editorial Advisory Board for Circuits Assembly Magazine and is the author of the award winning On the Forefront column.