Facing the Future: Time for Real Talk, Early and Often, Between Design and Fabrication
Trouble in Your Tank: Can You Drill the Perfect Hole?
It’s Only Common Sense: Your Guide to Better Time Management
IPC Designers Council Has a New Name: IPC Design
February 11, 2020 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 2 minutes
Yes, you read that right. The IPC Designers Council is now known as IPC Design. Many of you have heard secondhand stories about what this change will entail, so I asked IPC to shed some light on this subject. I recently spoke with IPC’s Teresa Rowe and Patrick Crawford about what’s changing, what’s not, and IPC’s plans to provide improved infrastructure for PCB design content and curriculum.
Andy Shaughnessy: Teresa, why and how is the IPC Designers Council (DC) changing?
Teresa Rowe: It has been about 15 years since IPC took a look at the design community at large. During that time, a lot has changed in the industry. It was time to look at where our pockets of designers were and how IPC’s design products were being used in the industry and addressing the design programs, overall. It is changing in a way that will address the community at large.
Shaughnessy: And what will the new program name be?
Patrick Crawford: It will be called IPC Design. We’re going to be mixing the power of IPC and the design community.
Rowe: It embraces standards development, education, the foundation piece of it, designer community leadership, etc. It brings the design community together in one place to move forward.
Crawford: The core of the new program will be to empower and benefit more PCB designers, as I think it always has been. We want to bring more of IPC’s resources to bear on the design community in the sense that we have a vast member network and a vast digital infrastructure that can track committees, create groups, and allow them to disseminate knowledge online. We have a large body of expertise in our IPC education and certification department. The point is that we have many parts of IPC that could be better channeled into the design community.
Looking at this, we love the idea of having these regional groups as the IPC DC—a forum by which designers can communicate and disseminate knowledge. What we want to do is take that idea and build a stronger scaffold around it so it can be better supported by IPC. And to answer how the IPC DC infrastructure will change, it won’t really. We’re going to call them Design Chapters to better align with the nomenclature of IPC, but they are still going to have the same executive structure within those smaller groups, such as president, vice president, etc.
To read this entire interview, which appeared in the January 2020 issue of Design007 Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Facing the Future: Time for Real Talk, Early and Often, Between Design and Fabrication
07/08/2025 | Prashant Patel -- Column: Facing the FutureThere has always been a subtle but significant divide between those who design and those who build printed circuit boards. It’s not a hostile gap, but it is a real one, and in today’s high-speed, high-complexity, high-stakes environment, that gap is costing us more than time and yield. It’s costing us innovation.
DownStream Acquisition Fits Siemens’ ‘Left-Shift’ Model
06/26/2025 | Andy Shaughnessy, I-Connect007I recently spoke to DownStream Technologies founder Joe Clark about the company’s acquisition by Siemens. We were later joined by A.J. Incorvaia, Siemens’ senior VP of electronic board systems. Joe discussed how he, Rick Almeida, and Ken Tepper launched the company in the months after 9/11 and how the acquisition came about. A.J. provides some background on the acquisition and explains why the companies’ tools are complementary.
Elementary Mr. Watson: Retro Routers vs. Modern Boards—The Silent Struggle on Your Screen
06/26/2025 | John Watson -- Column: Elementary, Mr. WatsonThere's a story about a young woman preparing a holiday ham. Before putting it in the pan, she cuts off the ends. When asked why, she shrugs and says, "That's how my mom always did it." She asks her mother, who gives the same answer. Eventually, the question reaches Grandma, who laughs and says, "Oh, I only cut the ends off because my pan was too small." This story is a powerful analogy for how many PCB designers approach routing today.
Connect the Dots: The Future of PCB Design and Manufacturing
07/02/2025 | Matt Stevenson -- Column: Connect the DotsFor some time, I have been discussing the increasing complexity of PCBs and how designers can address the constantly evolving design requirements associated with them. My book, "The Printed Circuit Designer’s Guide to… Designing for Reality," details best practices for creating manufacturable boards in a modern production environment.
Siemens Turbocharges Semiconductor and PCB Design Portfolio with Generative and Agentic AI
06/24/2025 | SiemensAt the 2025 Design Automation Conference, Siemens Digital Industries Software today unveiled its AI-enhanced toolset for the EDA design flow.