I recently had the pleasure of attending the IPC Apex show in Las Vegas. This marked my second year as volunteer guest editor for IConnect 007’s Real Time with IPC. During the three day exhibition portion of the conference, experts from the PCB fabrication and assembly industries (and their suppliers) are interviewed, on camera, to share information and updates on developments in our industry. New product introductions along with IPC announcements are also made during this time.

One of the great benefits to volunteering to conduct these interviews is the broad scope of interesting people I have the pleasure of meeting. I also learn about so many new developments in the industry at large, that would otherwise be drown out by the massive scope of the conference and exhibit.

Since many of you are on the front lines high performance board design I thought you would enjoy viewing a few of these short videos to learn a little bit about the people and technologies I was exposed to during this great conference and tradeshow. (most clips are under 8 minutes)

• My first interview was with John Vaughn, President of Circuit Solutions who is from the Washington DC metro area. John is deeply involved with military prime contractors and the DOD and shares his outlook on the current state of the military electronics market.
• My second interview was with Randy Cherry from IPC. Randy is overseeing a new program called Validations Services. Currently, Validation Services is only available for assembly facilities. Basically, IPC had created a method of certifying EMS facilities for being compliant with applicable IPC standards. As opposed to other certifications, like ISO, IPC certifies specifically to the electronics industry manufacturing standards and can helps identify suppliers who are fully compliant to IPC standards. Validation Services will soon be available for cable assemblers and PCB fabricators.
• My third interview was with Tara Dunn ,President of Omni PCB from the Minneapolis Minnesota area. Tara has written a helpful design guide for those new to flex circuit design. She also hosts a series called PCB coffee talks in which she hosts industry experts  in short 20 minute discussions on subjects like HDI via filling. She also authors a blog and prides herself in being a resource for her customers.
• My fourth interview was with Michael Carano of OMG Electronics. Mike is a Chemist who has 35 years of experience in electro-plating chemistry. Mike was inducted into the IPC Hall of Fame this year for his generous contributions to IPC over many years. He has written much technical content and created workshops that have been hosted throughout the world. Mike is a regular columnist for The PCB Magazine and has been a great resource for many of us in the PCB industry.

Some other interviews that I didn’t conduct but thought would be of particular interest to you were Mark Seelhammer of Rogers, Corp for their award winning, Coolspan which is a ground-breaking adhesive system that bonds PCBs to heavy metal backing for thermal heat dissipation and control. Many will be delighted to hear about this new product and alternative to traditional sweat-soldering—which can present many challenges. Rogers won the award for best NPI at the IPC Apex show this year.

Another interview of interest came from Clyde Coombs of Coombs publishing. Clyde is the creator of The PCB Handbook which is about to go into its seventh edition. Many who want to learn about PCB manufacturing have used this as their go-to resource for years.  In this interview Clyde discusses what will be featured in the upcoming edition.

There are many other excellent video interviews that can be found on the Real Time with IPC website. I encourage you to look through the video index to see if there are other professionals and topics of interest to you.

It won’t be long until we all converge on Tampa for the MTTs  International Microwave Symposium. Looking forward to all the information and interviews that will emerge out of our favorite show of the year! Keep an eye out for the extensive and outstanding coverage by Microwave Journal. Look forward to seeing many of you in Tampa!

(Please stop by and say hello at the Transline Technology booth #326. It is always a delight to meet you in person!)

Best wishes,
Judy Warner
Transline Technolog
www.translinetech.com
judy@translinetech.com