Just a clarification here: you can in fact wave solder surface mount parts, and it's often done. It doesn't work for leadless parts or parts with pins under the

Just a clarification here: you can in fact wave solder surface mount parts, and it's often done. It doesn't work for leadless parts or parts with pins under the package such as BGA and LGA but it can be used, with proper board design, for most other parts, even surprisingly fine-pitch ICs. The parts are glued to the PCB and then passed through the wave. The most common use is for passives, such as decoupling caps, on the bottom of a PCB.