America and Europe are all high reliability/long life. The findings in IPC’s PCB Technology Trends 2018 study show that these regions are not as different as expected, and the differences we do see are interesting.
IPC’s Emerging Engineer program provides mentoring and training to assist engineers early in their careers. John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO, explains the benefits in this new video.
https://youtu.be/QqdtqkPfDU8
By Chris Mitchell, IPC vice president of global government relations
[caption id="attachment_4678" align="alignleft" width="300"] IPC member company executives gathered in DC last week for a round of advocacy meetings.[/caption]
Top executives from electronics companies across the United States were in Washington, D.C., last week to ca
By Sharon Starr, director, IPC market research
The North American electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry continued to enjoy positive year-to-date growth in the first quarter of 2019, but growth rates for both sales and orders are slowing, according to IPC’s first-quarter 2019 North American EMS Market Report. Order growth contrasts sharply with last year’s business results. EMS orders in 2018 were 13.5 percent above the previous year.
By Dennis Fritz, Fritz Consulting
Some interesting differences showed up in the board property data reported by the OEMs and PCB fabricators that participated in IPC’s PCB Technology Trends 2018 study. By and large, those differences indicate that PCB fabricators are well positioned to meet many of their OEM customers’ technical needs today, and their projections indicate their belief that they can stay ahead of the curve through 2023.
One example is the average maximum number of drilled holes per panel.
By Michael Carano, vice president, technology and business development, RBP Chemical Technology
The recent publication of IPC’s 2018 PCB Technology Trends study highlighted several significant trends that will impact the board fabricator going forward over the next five years.
Some of the most significant technology trends I see are in the materials segment. We all recognize that laminate materials are the substrates on which circuit boards are built.
By Kelly Scanlon, IPC Director of Environment, Health and Safety Policy and Research
The task of monitoring and complying with environmental, health and safety (EHS) rules that affect electronics companies and their products requires a watchful eye on all levels of government: local, state, national, and international.
Last week, IPC hosted SummerCom, our semi-annual standards development committee meetings, in Raleigh, North Carolina. The event brought together thousands of technical experts from around the world to shape the product, manufacturing, and supply-chain standards that guide our industry.
What makes the IPC Emerging Engineer Program a premier networking and career enriching program? IPC staff spoke to Emerging Engineer Kate Stees, materials & process engineer, Lockheed Martin, about her experience in the program and why she recommends it to other engineers.
By Sharon Starr, director, market research
IPC’s second-quarter 2019 Pulse of the Electronics Industry survey results indicated a bump in the positive impact of economic and market conditions. Sixty-one percent of the respondents’ open-ended comments about what is driving industry growth cited economic, market or demand growth. Some of these comments mentioned the impact of tariffs and reshoring. On balance, however, trade and tariff issues were far more often cited as conditions that are increasing costs and limiting growth.