“This is a very exciting time …” - not exactly words often heard these days, but according to David Buhrkuhl, president of SPEA America, even within these economic times, “new technologies are driving the industry,” and opportunities do exist. At the recent IPC APEX EXPO™ in Las Vegas, the opportunities for learning and business development were ever-present. Despite attendance figures lower than last year, 6,077 attendee and exhibitor individuals from 42 countries gathered together to take advantage of the educational sessions, standards committee meetings and business development activities on and off the exhibit floor.

“It was our best show in the 10 years of SPEA America,” added Buhrkuhl. “All of us were constantly busy with customers … we now have a lot of work to do!”

Likewise, Tim Kardish, CEO, APS Novastar, and his staff will be busy following up on “high quality customer inquiries.” He added, “IPC effectively matched workshop and conference content to attendee needs for these challenging times. We look forward to participating in 2010.”

A valuable part of the educational content which continues to draw great interest from attendees is the Poster Paper Sessions. This year’s Best Poster award went to Scott Hinaga of Cisco Systems, Inc. for Effect of Conductor Surface Roughness upon Measured Loss and Extracted Values of PCB Laminate Material Dissipation Factor. Honorable Mention was presented to John Kuhn of Dielectric Solutions, LLC, along with co-authors Russell Dudek, Compunetics Inc., and Patricia Goldman of Dielectric Solutions, LLC, for Opening Eyes on Fiber Weave and CAF.

Of the 3,350 attendees, 629 attended the conference and 778 attended 41 full- and half-day educational courses. Committee meetings were exceptionally well attended and participants reported great progress on many documents. The exhibitor base included 380 exhibiting companies, representing leading suppliers and many other valued participants in the industry supply chain.

Overall, the event proved the importance of face-to-face meetings and networking. Summing it up, “IPC APEX EXPO 2009 was a much better event for Kyzen than we expected,” said Tom Forsythe, Kyzen’s vice president. “Our numbers were very good, better than most years.  Also, there was a near absence of tire kickers, everyone was on a mission … and needed to bring home answers.  We heard good feedback from the tech sessions, committee meetings, and of course attendance at the various awards programs was very high as well.  Well done IPC.”

www.IPC.org

Keywords : Association News, North America, Standards, Business and Professional Developments at IPC APEX EXPO Boost Industry Spirit & Progress

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