IPC, the global industry association representing the $2 trillion global electronics industry, is applauding the U.S. Congress for sending legislation to President Trump that will strengthen workforce education and training efforts. The President signed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act (the Perkins CTE Act) on Tuesday.

Relevant information on how the Coronavirus is affecting the manufacturing industry and IPC.

IPC announced today the June 2018 findings from its North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Industry shipments and orders in June continued to grow at a strong pace. The book-to-bill ratio for June is 1.05.

PC is applauding leaders in the U.S. House and Senate for finalizing the FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and including a provision on military electronics backed by IPC.Reflecting IPC’s collaboration with Senator Joe Donnelly (D-IN), Section 845 of the bill calls on the Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Executive Agent for Printed Circuit Board and Interconnect Technology (based at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, Indiana) and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), to prepare a report to Congress by January 2019 on the health of the U.S. defense electronics industrial base. The report will include an examination of the Department’s partnerships with industry and a plan to formalize the long-term resourcing of the Executive Agent.

IPC's Validation Services Program has awarded an IPC J-STD-001, IPC-A-610 and IPC/WHMA-A-620 Qualified Manufacturers Listing (QML) Class 3, to the Lockheed Martin Rotary and Mission Systems (RMS) business area. Following an initial audit by IPC, Lockheed Martin RMS becomes one of the OEM trusted sources and suppliers meeting the stringent requirements of the Qualified Manufacturing Listing (QML) based on three of IPC's foremost standards: IPC J-STD-001, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies, IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies and IPC/WHMA-A-620, Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

IPC's Study of Quality Benchmarks for Electronics Assembly 2018 is now available. The global study provides valuable benchmarking data to electronics assembly companies interested in comparing their quality measurements to those of the industry worldwide.

High density interconnect (HDI) technology makes it possible to place more components on both sides of a raw PCB and from a design perspective, HDI technology requires different setup and thought as to what is needed and how to accomplish it. As a result, designers need to understand the structure of the HDI traces and vias, and what their options and effects are to the cost and electronics involved.

IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries, the global industry association representing the $2 trillion global electronics industry, applauds a U.S. Senate committee for its work in advancing a workforce education and training bill.

IPC reports that 85 percent of exhibit floor space has been sold for IPC APEX EXPO® 2019. Three hundred twenty-seven exhibitors have been assigned to 134,200 net square feet of exhibit space, marking a 5 percent increase in square footage compared to 2018’s booth space selection event. The premier technical conference and exhibition for the electronics manufacturing industry will take place January 29–31, 2019, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, Calif.

IPC launched a global survey of printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers in the electronics industry this week. This confidential survey is part of a global data collection effort for the development of IPC’s 2018 PCB Technology Trends study. The deadline for PCB fabricator survey responses is July 13.