Changing technologies that are driving the electronics industry will take center stage throughout the IPC APEX EXPO 2019 technical conference and professional development sessions, which will take place January 26-31 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California. Registration is now open at www.IPCAPEXEXPO.org.

Because IPC APEX EXPO will be held in January for the next five years, IPC will move its standards development committee meetings normally scheduled in Fall to June in 2019. This decision follows a survey of the standards committees where respondents indicated they would prefer to hold in-person standards development meetings in the summer months to have ample time to work on documents. IPC previously hosted its Fall Committee Standards Development meetings in conjunction with SMTA International (SMTAI).

IPC, in conjunction with What’s New in Electronics Live and ART-- Advanced Rework Technology Ltd., conducted the IPC Hand Soldering Competition in Birmingham, United Kingdom, on 25-26 September 2018. Seventeen competitors went soldering iron to soldering iron, with the hope of winning the coveted hand soldering competition crown.

On September 13, representatives from the e-textiles ecosystem, including product innovators, material suppliers, electrical engineers and academia, came together for IPC E-Textiles 2018, a first-time e-textiles event for IPC. The workshop was developed by leaders from the e-textiles supply chain, who approached IPC to host a collaborative educational event for two converging industries—textiles and electronics.

IPC’s Hand Soldering Competition returns to the United Kingdom and What’s New in Electronics Live on September 25-26, 2018. This year, the competition will be run in association with Advanced Rework Technology Ltd.

Sixty-six percent of manufacturing companies say that their leadership does not have a clear vision for the digital future. As manufacturing moves toward the Smart Factory and Industry 4.0, IPC and i4.0 Today will offer members of the electronics industry an opportunity to learn about the technology and future surrounding Industry 4.0 with a two-day i4.0 Connect Forum, to take place in Silicon Valley, Calif., November 6-7.

IPC invites engineers, researchers, academics, technical experts and industry leaders to submit abstracts for IPC High Reliability Forum to be held May 14–16, 2019 in Hanover (Baltimore), Md.

IPC in partnership with Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) will host the High-Reliability Cleaning and Conformal Coating Conference, November 13–15, at the Chicago Marriott in Schaumburg, Ill. The 2018 conference will focus on electronics assembly and the influence of cleanliness and coating on producing reliable hardware.

Each year, IPC APEX EXPO features industry’s most dynamic, innovative minds to deliver keynote presentations that are both educational and entertaining. IPC APEX EXPO 2019 will feature JB Straubel, chief technical officer (CTO) and co-founder of electric vehicle maker Tesla, Inc. Straubel will present “Accelerating and Disrupting Innovation: The Tesla Story” on Tuesday, January 29, 2019

IPC’s D-70 E-Textiles Committee has released IPC WP-024, IPC White Paper on Reliability and Washability of Smart Textile Structures – Readiness for the Market. This white paper provides insights from a team of researchers on e-textiles washability testing parameters and initial results from those tests. The D-70 committee plans for IPC-WP-024 to be the first in a series of papers from industr