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| Dieter Brammer
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Dieter Brammer passed away suddenly this morning at his home in Philadelphia. I am not sure of his age but believe that he was around 70. He was a pioneer and well known figure in the Surface Mount Electronics manufacturing industry for many years before his retirement.
Originally from Lüneberg, Germany, a northern German city about 60km SE of Hamburg, Dieter immigrated to the United States from West Germany in the 1960’s as a locksmith.
He became involved in the membrane switch industry, printing and curing conductive inks, which led him to the electronics industry and the search for efficient drying and curing ovens.
He was a rep for the fledgling Vitronics Corp. for a few years and then spun off to found Screen Printing Technology (SPT) Corp. in the 1980's in eastern Massachusetts, eventually switching to infrared and later convection reflow soldering ovens. The business later became ABW Systems and moved to North Carolina.
Dieter pioneered and championed the use of forced convection reflow for SMT soldering when the prevailing sentiment in the industry was the panel infrared systems were the only way to go. Now, virtually all reflow in via forced convection.
In his free time, Dieter was an avid sailor, preferring multihulls (catamarans) and spent some time after retirement sailing in the Caribbean. As a youth at the end of World War II, he saw the devastation that war had brought to his native Germany, and was forever after an outspoken pacifist.
Those of us who remember Dieter know that he was a unique individual with a powerful zest for life, adventure, and embarking on (sometimes) outrageous gambles no matter what the odds; he enjoyed the role of being David in any David vs. Goliath contest, being the underdog, the long shot, the dark horse.
No arrangements have been made yet (obviously) and I am not sure of the whereabouts and contacts with his family at this point; I was phoned only this morning by his companion, Jane, who is understandably quite distraught. I will forward information about arrangements once I receive it.
