IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries® today announced it will offer an association health plan to IPC/WHMA members, extending affordable health care to small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in approved states. In states where the association health plan is not available, IPC will connect manufacturers with available small-group options in their states.

IPC announces industry programs to support implementation and full utilization of IPC Connected Factory Exchange–IPC CFX. IPC CFX enables any manufacturing facility, large or small, to achieve Industry 4.0, IIoT and smart factory objectives. IPC CFX is a single-source, plug-and-play system supported by IPC-2591, Connected Factory Exchange (CFX), an open international standard developed by industry for industry. IPC CFX uses a secure license-free communication protocol that can reduce/eliminate reliance on middleware -- a constant source of headaches in smart factory implementation.

Robert Cooke, NASA aerospace engineer and electronics industry subject matter expert, will deliver a technical education workshop, “The Evolution of IPC’s Cable & Wire Harness Documents: IPC-D-620, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC-HDBK-620 at the WHMA 27th Annual Wire Harness Conference, February 18, 2020, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The third annual M-EXPO Wire Processing Technology event held in Ciudad Juárez, México at the Cuatro Siglos Convention Center on October 9-11, 2019, exceeded expectations. This event was co-located with the ninth annual EXPO-MRO. These two events hosted more than 6,500 attendees.

IPC's biennial wage rate and salary survey for the North American electronics assembly industry is open with a response deadline of November 1. The confidential survey covers compensation for 40 hourly and salaried technical, manufacturing and sales positions at original equipment manufacturers (OEMS) and contract electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies in North America. It also covers salary budget growth, planned increases for 2020, and employee benefits and policies.

IPC announced today the September 2019 findings from its North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales and orders continued to outpace last year and the preceding month in September. The book-to-bill ratio strengthened to 1.04.

Almost 90 percent of U.S. electronics manufacturers are troubled by the higher tariffs imposed by the United States and China on each other’s imports, and some are investing less in the United States and hiring fewer workers as a result.

IPC today announced it has joined the European Partnership for Responsible Minerals (EPRM) as part of its continuing efforts to help IPC members navigate the complex challenge of responsible minerals sourcing.

The 2019 IPC Hand Soldering Competition Japan concluded at NEPCON Japan in Nagoya September 20, celebrating the outstanding skills and professional achievements of talented manufacturing floor workers. Thirty-two competitors from renowned companies such as Panasonic, Mitsubishi Electronics, Advantest, NEC Space Technology and others participated in the event.

Third-quarter 2019 results from IPC’s Pulse of the Electronics Industry global data service show that the global electronics industry continues to thrive in a positive business environment and still predicts continued growth over the next year. The results are somewhat less optimistic than in earlier quarters this year and there are some sharp contrasts between regions.