An Invitation from SMTA President Martin Anselm

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

As the current president of SMTA, I’d like to extend an invitation to everyone in the electronics manufacturing industry to join us Oct. 9–12, 2023 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minnesota for our flagship event, SMTA International Conference and Exposition. This event is once again co-located with MD&M Minneapolis, providing an intriguing mix of related manufacturing technology cross-over among the respective shows.

SMTA International remains one of the best opportunities to learn and network with industry peers during the year. I look forward to hearing all the presentations about new research, the chance to ask questions directly of the authors, and to see the technological innovations on display throughout the expo hall. I want to thank all the participants who make this possible, from our committee members and exhibitors to the speakers and session chairs. I’m also thankful for the support from corporate members who value our mission of knowledge sharing, skill building, and developing solutions in the electronics manufacturing industry.

As a professor at a research institute and a member of the technical committee for the conference, I’m always excited to see the finalized conference program and this year has been no exception. An entire session has been dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) and how it can be applied in a manufacturing environment, which is of great interest to many of us after the surprising breakthroughs that technology made in headlines earlier this year. That session is titled “INS1: AI and Machine Learning: Current Electronics Manufacturing Inspection Applications,” and is scheduled for the morning of Wednesday, Oct. 11.

I’m also very proud of the Women’s Leadership Program. Not only does it support an important cause—diversity in engineering fields—but it is free to attend and open to everyone. The theme is “The Power of Personal Branding” and it features several presentations from women leaders sure to inspire you both professionally and personally. Of course, there is plenty of other important work being presented each day and it is worth spending time to review the entire program yourself.

With more than 70 exhibitors in the SMTAI exposition, and hundreds more in the hall as part of MD&M Minneapolis, the show floor is equally as exciting as the technical conference. Every year, I have an opportunity to catch up on the latest equipment, technology, and materials innovations our industry has to offer. This is an incredible occasion to connect with the service providers that can answer questions on challenges in manufacturing and test. We even have a great program called “Passport to the World of SMT” for those who are new to the industry and want to get acquainted with various assembly processes and solutions providers. You can sign up for free when you register, and you will have a chance to win some great prizes in addition to picking up the helpful guide to electronics assembly.

This coming year is my last one as president, and I know it will be a year of growth and success for the association and the industry at large. For that reason, I look forward to seeing everyone in Minneapolis and hearing your thoughts about the future of SMTA. Please stop me and say hello if you see me walking the exhibit hall or in a conference session.

This article kicks off the special SMTAI section in the September 2023 issue of SMT007 Magazine.