WHMA/IPC announces that 215 exhibitors spanning over 50,000 nsf of exhibit space will introduce new product technologies, innovations and demonstrations of the electrical wire harness, wire, coil winding and cable processing industries’ newest advancements at Electrical Wire Processing Technology Expo (EWPTE) to be held at Baird Center May 14-16, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wis. This marks the largest number of exhibiting companies in the event’s history. More than 3,000 attendees are expected to attend this year’s event.

On an expanded show floor from previous years, top-rated suppliers will present best-in-class equipment, materials, processes and services to help attendees gain greater efficiency while improving their bottom lines.

"One of the top objectives for attendees is to see new products on the show floor, said Alicia Balonek, WHMA/IPC senior director of trade shows and events. “EWPTE has been recognized as a top 100 fastest growing show in the United States for net square footage and number of exhibiting companies and as a result, is considered as a 'best show to do business,' and provides ample opportunities to network with existing customers, meet new customers, grow business and increase revenue. For many attendees, EWPTE provides them the unique opportunity to come together to find solutions to challenging wire problems through training and education and for the opportunity to network and do business with industry leaders and subject matter experts all under one roof," Balonek added.

"With Baird Center’s new $456 million expansion, square footage of the convention center has now doubled," said Megan Seppmann, vice president of sales for the Wisconsin Center District, owners and operators of Baird Center. "We are excited to welcome EWPTE to our expanded, state-of-the-art venue as Baird Center and EWPTE continue to grow together."

Exhibit hours are Wednesday, May 15 from 9:00 am–5:00 pm CDT and Thursday, May 16 from 9:00 am–2:00 pm CDT. To view a complete list of companies exhibiting at EWPTE or to register, visit www.electricalwireshow.com.

At IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, Calif., five competitors squared off to determine who was the best of the best at PCB design.

As finalists in the third annual IPC Design Competition, the five designers were invited to IPC APEX EXPO to compete in a five-hour layout challenge, to place components and route a board, compliant to relevant IPC standards. As part of the finals heat, competitors used Altium Designer, and a project was provided with stackup and board geometry complete, with certain critical components pre-placed. All other components were left to be placed at the discretion of the competitors.

At the end of the round, each competitor delivered their project file to judges Kris Moyer and Patrick Crawford, IPC; Steve Roy, Roy Design and Manufacturing Service; Russell Steiner, Amphenol; Kevin Kusiak and David Caputa, Lockheed Martin. The judges placed weight on examining completeness of the board (i.e., how many routed nets) vs. critical errors – namely short circuits, clearance violations, via producibility, and various signal integrity aspects.

 After an intense 2.5-hour judging process, Dinesh G., lead turnkey, Sienna ECAD, took first place with his PCB design.

Second place went to Paul Brionez, CID+, senior PCB design layout engineer, Wisk Aero. Third place went to Ajeesh Francis, senior PCB engineer, Tessolve Semiconductor Pvt. Ltd.

           Runners-up included: Joseph Chiu, ToyBuilder Labs and Harish G., senior engineer, R&D-Mobility, Exicom Tele-Systems Ltd.

           To learn more about IPC’s design initiative, visit http://www.ipc.org/solutions/ipc-design.

The IPC Excellence in Education award was presented to Janene Stinson, Boeing, at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, California, in recognition of her significant contributions to workforce development and leadership. 

The IPC Excellence in Education award is given to individuals who have made a significant contribution to in workforce development while building a culture of continuous learning within their organization and across the electronics industry.

A senior employee development specialist with the Defense, Space, and Security division at Boeing, Stinson was recognized for developing a fiber optic training course that meets industry standards and received certification to operate as a training center. She also worked with local colleges to establish IPC training for aerospace programs and is a subject matter expert in developing training materials for  U.S. Department of Defense contractors. A technical trainer for more than 20 years, Stinson is certified to train for IPC-J-STD-001 Space Addendum, IPC-7711/7721, IPC-WHMA-A-620, and IPC A-610. She currently works to implement IPC training programs in high schools.

“IPC is committed to educating the electronics industry’s workforce,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO, “and we are proud to recognize Janene for her important contributions to workforce development.”

From revolutionary advancements in artificial intelligence, augmented reality and the latest innovations in capital equipment on the show floor to a heightened learner experience through the 16th Electronic Circuits World Convention (ECWC16) technical conference, IPC APEX EXPO 2024 provided education, professional development and numerous networking opportunities, for 3,723 attendees from 57 countries.

Four hundred twelve (412) exhibitors engaged in three days of business development, generating 22,552 qualified sales leads on 138,900 net square feet of Anaheim Convention Center show floor space. IPC APEX EXPO attracted 7,245 total visitors including attendees and exhibitor personnel, a 5.1 percent increase from 2023.

In keeping with the event’s theme, “What’s Next Becomes Now,” the IPC APEX EXPO Technical Program Committee built a strong ECWC16 technical conference program with nine topic tracks, 26 sessions and 84 papers, with peer-reviewed content from 14 countries, detailing original research and innovations from industry experts around the world. “From attendees, I received positive feedback on the quality of technical program offerings, many stating that sessions covering sustainability, next generation packaging and EV electronics were welcome additions,” said IPC President and CEO John W. Mitchell. “The paper presenters, international subject matter experts, eagerly shared their knowledge and expertise and provided attendees with quality technical content not found or presented anywhere else. We are very proud of the technical conference and set the bar high for paper submissions,” Mitchell added.

Commenting on his attendee experience, Michael Allen, Textron Systems (AAI) commented, “This was my second consecutive visit to IPC APEX EXPO. With this year’s visit, I was able to leverage last year’s experiences into a more fruitful one. My colleague and I met and networked with many new suppliers and learned about great new technologies. We also connected with existing suppliers to further strengthen those relationships. We find that attending IPC APEX EXPO is extremely valuable in terms of career development, company process improvement and technology development.”

More than 100 standards development committees and task groups made significant progress on new and revised documents covering such topics as design, materials, board fabrication, microvia reliability, assembly, cleaning, coating, advanced packaging and materials declaration. “There was a standards development activity “first” at this year’s show when the IC substrates working group welcomed leadership from China for its first international meeting of the group developing IPC-6921, Requirements and Acceptance Specification for Organic IC Substrates,” said Teresa Rowe, IPC senior director, assembly and standards technology.

From survey responses, the exhibitor experience at APEX EXPO 2024 was positive. “As an IPC member and IPC APEX EXPO exhibitor, this year’s show exceeded our expectations,” said Robert Ferguson, CEO, SSI. “The event featured a unique blend of technical conferences, professional development, standards development meetings along with a manufacturing equipment exposition that is second to none. Well done to Team IPC! We’re already looking forward to next year,” added Ferguson.

Joe Clure, Head of Application/Demo Center, Kurtz Ersa Inc. offered, “Something that we found very encouraging is that the content of the conversations from the attendees was much more focused. It was obvious that there had been a good deal of research done before they traveled to the show, so they were able to identify the key items of interest and ask much more specific questions about those topics. And as a result of their preparedness, the quality of our leads was so strong that the show was very successful for us.”

Summing up IPC APEX EXPO 2024, Mitchell added, “We at IPC are profoundly grateful to an industry that has encouraged and supported us in producing this event. We never lose sight of the fact that we could not host IPC APEX EXPO without the dedicated volunteers and industry. We’re already looking forward to and planning next year’s event, marked by IPC APEX EXPO 25th anniversary.”

In 2025, IPC APEX EXPO will return to the Anaheim Convention Center,
March 15-20. For more information on IPC APEX EXPO 2025, visit www.ipcapexexpo.org.

IPC honored the late Michael Ford, Aegis Software, for his extraordinary contributions to the global electronics manufacturing industry with the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. IPC’s most prestigious honor, the Hall of Fame Award is given to individuals who have provided exceptional service and advancement to IPC and the electronics industry. Ford, an industry leader and valued IPC volunteer, died suddenly in January 2024.

Ford is credited as a driving force behind the creation of IPC Connected Factory Exchange, (IPC-CFX), the global standard that simplifies and standardizes machine-to-machine communication while also facilitating machine-to-business and business-to-machine applications.

Ford was the recipient of several IPC awards, including the Hillman-Lambert Award, the IPC President’s Award, the Dieter Bergman Fellowship Award, several Golden Gnome awards, and numerous standards committee leadership and special recognition awards.

“Michael was a visionary,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “He was not only a gifted, brilliant engineer, but his ability to seek and obtain collaboration gained him loyal friends and colleagues throughout the industry. He was as generous with his knowledge as he was approachable. As many people have said, he shouldered the weight of projects he was involved in, and we owe it to him to carry on the path he generously paved for us. He will be greatly missed.”

Jason Spera, CEO, Aegis Software, accepted the award on behalf of Ford. In his acceptance remarks, Spera had this to say of Ford’s impact upon the electronics industry, “Michael leaves a great legacy of contribution to the electronics industry. That legacy will now be a new step, upon which everything our industry achieves going forward, rises. We can rest assured that this is what Michael hoped for most from his work.”

Two of the industry’s best and brightest were presented with an IPC Rising Star Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in recognition of their leadership roles and support of IPC standards, education, advocacy, and solutions to industry challenges. Award recipients were Naim Kapadia and Michael Schleicher.

Naim Kapadia of Grinsty Rail Ltd. has spent more than 20 years in electronics manufacturing working for contract manufacturers and PCB fabricators. He has participated in and led many programs in the UK: disseminating the Montreal Protocol, developing surface mount technology, and implementing lead-free processes. His passion for revolutionizing digital factories for electronic manufacturing led to the development of the first smart factory using legacy equipment in the UK. Naim's demonstration included implementing IPC-CFX, augmented reality/mixed reality, and collaborative robots.

Michael Schleicher of Semikron Elektronik GmbH has more than 30 years of experience in PCB design, contributing to projects in defense, automotive, healthcare, consumer electronics, and other industries. A multidiscipline engineer with Semikron, Michael has won numerous awards, including “Most Challenging High-Speed Design, "FED PCB Design award, the “IEC 1906 Award” and the IPC Golden Gnome “Globetrotter Award” (2023). A member of the FED EV Board and co-founder of the FED Arbeitskreis 3D-Elektronik working group, Schleicher is deeply involved in international standardization activities for IPC and IEC, as well as in the German national committees of DKE and ZVEI. For IPC he serves on the following standards committees: D-31B and D-31B-Creeps-A Team, 5-21N, European Standards Steering Committee, and the IPC APEX 2024 Technical Program Committee.

“We are thrilled to recognize the accomplishments of our Rising Stars and to take this opportunity to thank them for their contributions,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “We are privileged that Naim and Michael have chosen to share their knowledge and expertise with us and with the entire global electronics manufacturing industry.”