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January 23, 2023 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineEstimated reading time: 1 minute
IPC APEX EXPO 2023 doesn’t officially kick off until Tuesday, but there’s plenty of action going on here at the San Diego Convention Center.
Booths are sprouting up on the show floor, and exhibitors are starting to arrive. Upstairs, committee meetings have been taking place all weekend; the IPC-J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 Joint Task Group, and IPC-A-600 and IPC-6012 Joint Task Group meetings, were abuzz with activity.
The members of the 001-610 group boasted 168 people, and they really seemed to enjoy what could have been a boring day looking at standards minutiae. The voting process was something to see, with members waving green cards of approval for changes. It was all very democratic. I heard far more laughter than I had expected. If you’d like to get involved with the standards development process, the committee chairs would welcome your help.
The Professional Development classes began on Sunday, covering everything from design through assembly processes, flex and rigid-flex, and technologies of the future. We interviewed some of the committee members and class attendees, including a few first-time attendees, and we’ll have these interviews published soon.
We’re starting to see groups of engineers walking around the Gaslamp District with their show badges, but the real crowds won’t be here until tomorrow. A few people I spoke with said they think this show marks the return to a pre-pandemic state of mind, and very few people are wearing masks here. With no rain in the forecast, the week is looking good.
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