APEX whipped up a storm last week as it ripped into Sin City (Las Vegas). Any doubt that Las Vegas was the wrong destination for an electronics manufacturing show was quickly put to rest as the show proceeded to have one of its best years since it started.

The big news on the corporate front was Henkel’s acquisition of National Starch and Emerson & Cuming. Henkel paid a whopping €3.8 billion for the former ICI giants, and the new group will be headed by Alan Syzdek, the former CEO of National Starch.

On the show floor, exhibitors were selling equipment off the booth with many recording their best show ever. Some of the companies that reported multiple equipment sales included Aqueous Technologies, Assembléon, Essemtec and Juki. Read the full report here....

An overview of the some of the technology that was on display at the show.

ACE Production Technologies ACE Production Technologies, Inc. introduced the KISS-104F in-line fluxer, an intelligent fluxing system that enables the fluxing of only the specific components to be selectively soldered.	Accu-Assembly Accu-Assembly featured the new T40-1200-6N baking dry cabinet, designed for storage of moisture-sensitive devices (MSDs). These cabinets meet and exceed the requirements of the IPC and Jedec standard J-Std-033B.	Agilent Technologies Agilent featured its Metalist suite of test and inspection systems, breakthrough technologies for solder paste inspection, automated optical inspection, automated x-ray inspection and in-circuit test.
Aqueous Technologies Aqueous Technologies Corp. highlighted the Trident, its fourth-generation automatic defluxing system and the fastest batch-format defluxing system available, capable of defluxing and cleanliness testing up to 896 4 x 6" (101 x 152 mm) boards and up to 112 18 x 20" (457 x 508 mm) boards per hour.	Asahi Technologies America Viromet 347 solder paste is the fruit of Asahi's relentless R&D efforts to create state of the art, high quality, high performance lead-free solder paste. It offers excellent wetting and minimal or no voids.	ASC International ASC's VisionMaster M450 & AP450 series of solder paste inspection systems offer the latest technology advancements, including improved data acquisition rates.
BPM Microsystems BPM Microsystems displayed its latest Flashstream automated programming technology, the 3000FS, designed specifically to solve excessive programming times in current in-system, JTAG and in-circuit programming production methods.	CeTaQ Americas CeTaQ Americas highlighted the CmController5 Compact (CmC5 Compact) measurement and analysis tool.	Cobar Cobar BV, a member of the Balver Zinn Group, introduced XF3 lead-free solder paste, developed to accommodate extended reflow profiles without the use of nitrogen.
Contact Systems The advanced C5 series of SMT placers offers 10 models to match any full component range of SMT placement requirements and can implement a number of tray handling options.	CyberOptics CyberOptics Corporation showcased its Flex Ultra High-Resolution automated optical inspection (AOI) system, one of the highest-speed inspection systems in the industry and ideal for producing memory, notebook, mobile phone and automotive product.	Datapaq The Datapaq Surveyor provides an easy and accurate way to monitor the thermal performance of your reflow oven every hour, day and shift - effortlessly.
ECD ECD’s MEGAM.O.L.E.®20 thermal profiler is the first ever with 20 channels and an “OK button” one-touch go/no-go profile validation, and it's 7.2 mm thin!	Essemtec Essemtec, manufacturer of surface mount technology production equipment, premiered the PANTERA-XV SMD placement system.	Europlacer Europlacer, a designer and manufacturer of comprehensive SMT placement systems for the global electronics industry, had its new iineo-II SMT platform on display.
Everett Charles Technologies The Contacts Product Group (CPG) of Everett Charles Technologies (ECT) and atg Test Systems exhibited LFRE lead-free POGO contacts.	EVS International EVS International introduced the EVS 7000 and EVS 9000 solder recovery systems in distributor Sono-Tek’s booth 263.	FCT Solder FCT Solder invited visitors to bring their lead-free projects and questions to its booth for a SN100C® consultation.
FINE LINE STENCIL FINE LINE STENCIL, a division of FCT Assembly and manufacturer of stencil products, invited visitors to stop by its booth to learn about its recent positive changes in technology.	Finetech FINETECH will display the Fineplacer® CRS 10 compact rework system.	GPD Global GPD Global had two models from its Max Series line, the MicroCell and the MicroMaxII, as well as the tabletop TMax platform on display.
Heller Heller's Mark III reflow system features enhanced control of the liquidous time, profile scupting, and ultra-fast cooling rates.	Henkel To address the emerging requirements of today’s heat generating devices, Henkel launched its latest thermal product, PowerstrateXtreme™ Dispensable (PSX-D).	High-Tech Conversions High-Tech Conversions Inc., a manufacturer of high-quality wiping products and a supplier of consumable items used in cleanrooms, assembly lines, laboratories and manufacturing, will showcase its new THE AQUAVATORTM stencil wiping fabric.
Indium Corporation Indium8.9 Pb-free solder paste, formulated to produce consistent print volumes through apertures below the industry recommended minimum area ratio of 0.66, is an air reflow no-clean solder paste that prints perfectly every time.	Innov-X Systems Innov-X Systems' handheld XRF analyzers can detect PPM levels of Pb, Hg, Cd, Cr and BR in seconds and automatically classify mixed or homogenous - alloy or polymer.	Inovaxe Inovaxe Corp. exhibited INOCART-MSD, a true solution for managing moisture sensitive devices (MSD).
Juki Juki Corporation introduced its 350 selective soldering system to the electronics industry.	Kester Kester featured numerous products from its Lead-Free Solutions™ (products and services) portfolio to help companies in the transition to lead-free.	KIC KIC highlighted the Auto-Focus Power option for reflow ovens and wave solder machines.
Koh Young Koh Young Technology's new product aSPIre 3D in-line solder paste inspection system adds more value to your production.	Kyzen Kyzen Corporation's AQUANOX A4625B is an innovative aqueous chemistry designed for optimum effectiveness in batch washers. A4625B is environmentally friendly, has a long tank life and low maintenance cost.	Lambda Americas Genesys programmable power supplies now have an optional Ethernet interface, certified to LXI-C. The series is the widest range AC/DC programmable power solution sharing completely identical interfaces.
Mentor Graphics Mentor Graphics offers the CAMCAD manufacturing flow that enables the generation of correct, complete and intelligent product descriptions for use in PCB manufacturing.	Microscan Systems Quadrus MINI Velocity autofocus imager consistently reads linear bar codes and 2D symbols moving as fast as 100 inches per second, for easy implementation of automatic data tracking on high speed production lines.	MIRTEC MIRTEC introduced its MV series of AOI systems, including the MV-3L desktop, the MV-7L inline, and the MV-2HTU large-board desktop.
Mossman Tebbs Mossman Tebbs' PCB tray handlers offer safe handling of boards that cannot be held conventionally, such as odd-shaped boards, flexible boards and boards populated to the edge.	Nihon Superior Nihon Superior’s unique SnCuNiGe solder, SN100C®, that has established itself as the best alloy for lead-free wave soldering, will now be available as a high-performance solder paste with a general purpose “P500” flux medium.	Oak-Mitsui Oak-Mitsui technologies provides the premiere embedded capacitor material with the highest available capacitance density (1.7 nF/cm²). FaradFlex® can be used to form discrete capacitors inside your PCB, module or IC package.
Ovation Products Ovation Products introduced its new “Stinger” fluid dispense system, which expands the capabilities of conventional screen printers by enabling the user to dispense SMT adhesive or solder paste on a PCB immediately following the screen print operation.	Pentagon EMS Pentagon EMS's metal shop offers all the other parts for your PCB assembly, manufactured from your specifications or Pentagon's design.	phoenix|x-ray Exclusive preview: phoenix|x-ray introduced breakthrough software platform for CAD-based, fully automated inspection of solder joints (mAXI) at APEX.
Practical Components Practical Components, international distributor of mechanical IC samples or “dummy” components and SMD production tools and equipment, showcased its latest technology.	Precision Placement Machine PPM's new ThinPRO electronic tape feeder improves Quad System tape feeder accuracy and performance for placing small parts. The ThinPRO was designed to run 0402, 0201 and 01/0005 components.	Production Solutions The Red-E-Set universal board support system has been proven to reduce defects. It improves quality, eliminates component damage and reduces changeover time.
PROMATION PROMATION introduced its latest PCB handling solutions in booth 2271 at this year’s IPC/APEX trade show, Las Vegas, NV.	RMD Instruments RMD Instruments LLC premiered new solder analysis and identification features of its innovative LeadTracer-RoHS XRF system designed specifically for the electronics industry to provide fast, accurate and portable screening capability to meet RoHS directives.	Scienscope International The cost-efficient Scienscope View X is a full-featured x-ray inspection system with an improved high-resolution 90kV x-ray source and new Capture X Image processing software.
SEHO SEHO Systems contributed a paper, "New Technology to Meet Challenging Reflow Requirements", to the technical conference.	Siemens The Siemens SIPLACE X4i placement machine offers speed and flexibility for a wide variety of applications and line concepts.	Smart Sonic Smart Sonic unveiled the EnviroGuard™ stencil cleaner, which matches the unique properties of Smart Sonic's 440-R® SMT detergent to a specifically designed filtration/UV system that facilitates 100% closed-looping and zero VOCs of both the wash and rinse solutions.
Sono-Tek Sono-Tek Corporation introduced EZ-Flux ultrasonic reciprocating spray fluxing system, an economical ultrasonic spray fluxing system designed on a reciprocating platform that uses a high-impact flux transfer system for maximizing topside fill.	Specialty Coating Systems Specialty Coating Systems introduced its new SCS Precisioncoat spray coating and dispense system and its new fully articulated RTV system. SCS will also exhibit the SCS Precision IRT cure oven, Ionograph SMD IV ionic contamination test system and the company’s world-leading Parylene coating services and technologies.	Vitronics Soltec Customers of Vitronics Soltec’s successful XPM2 reflow system can now get all of the performance and reliability that the system is known for, plus some enhanced features, in the XPM2+.
VJ Electronix VJ Electronix introduced its new platform designed to perform a variety of specific tasks for rework and production.	World Equipment Source Complete SMT facility up for bid! World Equipment Source conducted a negotiated sale and bidding-process on behalf of Reliant Manufacturing.	Zestron Precision cleaning products and services for all required applications in the electronics manufacturing industry.