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Feeling the Magic of a Show Opener at IPC APEX EXPO 2024
April 10, 2024 | I-Connect007 Editorial TeamEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
As we walked the show floor at IPC APEX EXPO on Tuesday, April 9, we were struck by the subtle differences in the feel of the show floor between Anaheim and the previous home in San Diego. Somehow, the large booths seem less dominant, and the smaller booths seem more prominent here in the shadow of Disneyland where everything feels just a little bit magical.
Tuesday’s proceedings kicked off with a keynote presentation by former Disney Imagineer Paul Bailey. He shared inspiring stories of how he came to work for Disney, including images of him growing up obsessed with “Star Wars” and a desire to someday grow up and work with those films.
He especially talked about how to achieve a “moonshot” project, something that can seem insurmountable when first taking it on. He used the example of his first movie, “Dante’s Peak,” and the hundreds of people it took to build models that were used in the movie to simulate a volcanic eruption.
The keynote was followed by the traditional ribbon-cutting ceremony to open the show floor. The lay of the show floor is a bit different from San Diego, but the aisles felt full, especially by early afternoon, when many attendees completed their technical sessions and committee meetings and began visiting the booths on the show floor.
Highlights of the day included the IPC Design Competition, where four of the five competitors worked on their designs remotely. With one big projector screen at the front of the room, and several large monitors, the competition was overseen by IPC’s Kris Moyer and Patrick Crawford. They answered questions from competitors while sometimes admiring the way the designs were being put together. Winners will be announced on Thursday.
There was also a show floor reception at the close of the day, followed by a Women in Electronics event that featured a panel of female engineers ranging in age, experience, and situations. They reflected on the need to create a work-life balance when it comes to managing expectations at work and at home.
On Monday night, April 8, as we looked out over the Anaheim skyline from the convention center’s third-floor terrace, the Electronics Circuits World Conference (ECWC) reception was held at IPC APEX EXPO.
Held once every three years, this international PCB symposium is hosted in a different global city each time. This year, IPC is hosting ECWC16. Formed in 1998, the World Electronics Circuits Council (WECC) is a strategic partnership of ten international trade organizations for PCBs, including IPC, CPCA, HKPCA, EIPC, ELCINA, IPCA, JPCA, TPCA, KPCA, and THPCA, representing the U.S., China, Hong Kong, Europe, Taiwan, India, Korea and Thailand.
The organizations cooperate on standards, market research, marketing, resource development, environmental issues, world trade, and economic/political affairs. Because of this year’s merging of IPC APEX EXPO and ECWC16, the quality and level of the technology and special sessions may be unparalleled with so much access to global expertise.
In his opening remarks, John Mitchell, president and CEO of IPC, said it well, remarking that we are better together as he stressed the importance of collaboration and partnership between and amongst all of our associations.
Held on the Pacific Terrace on Monday night, the Newcomers’ reception was packed with first-timers, including a number of young engineers. Appetizers, beer and wine were served, while young engineers mingled with returning attendees and IPC staff.
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North American EMS Industry Down 4% in March
04/29/2024 | IPCIPC announced the March 2024 findings from its North American Electronics Manufacturing Services (EMS) Statistical Program. The book-to-bill ratio stands at 1.31.
Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2024: A Global Presence in PCB Manufacturing
04/29/2024 | Real Time with...IPC APEX EXPORob DiGiovanni, VP of sales for the Americas at STARTEAM Global, discusses the company's global presence in PCB manufacturing. As he explains, the firm operates facilities across Europe, Asia, and North America, specializing in serving contract manufacturers in the automotive and medical industries. They emphasize quality and meeting OEM standards, focusing on offshore supply and non-Chinese factories in the North American market. The company has grown through acquisitions and rebranding to offer multiple products.
EIPC Issues Letter of Urgency
04/29/2024 | Alun Morgan, EIPCAlun Morgan, president of EIPC, issued a letter last week in an effort to raise awareness of the state of PCB manufacturing in Europe. He writes, "The European PCB manufacturing industry and its supply base has been steadily shrinking since the dot com crash at the start of the millennium. European demand for PCBs and assemblies has, however, continued to grow, thus creating an ever-widening gap between European domestic capacity and consumption. The risks posed by this imbalanced supply and demand pattern came into sharp focus during the Covid-19 pandemic which caused chaos in extended supply chains across the world and resulted in widespread shortages."
Arlon Electronic Materials Awarded Requalification to IPC-4101 QPL for All Polyimide Specification Sheets
04/29/2024 | IPCIPC's Validation Services Program has awarded Arlon Electronic Materials Division, an electronics material manufacturing company headquartered in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., an IPC-4101 Qualified Products Listing (QPL) requalification for the third time.
I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week
04/26/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineIn this week’s roundup, we have a variety of articles covering everything from design through assembly, and even box build. I’ve always wondered whether box build was all it was cracked up to be. Do customers really pick one EMS provider over another because one company offers box build? And if you’ve ever wanted to volunteer, IPC’s Thought Leaders Program is looking for a few good technologists to help them on their mission. Check out Stanton Rak’s article, which was published in the spring issue of IPC Community.