Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

The Shaughnessy Report: Design Takes Center Stage at IPC APEX EXPO

IPC APEX EXPO has been known for years as the largest PCB fabrication and assembly show in the U.S. In the past decade, the conference portion has been increasing its design content and this year’s event in Anaheim, California, offers a cornucopia of PCB design curriculum.

The IPC Design Competition, for example, moves into its third year, with entrants from all over the world competing in Anaheim in the final heat. This show is shaping up as the place to be for PCB designers and design engineers.

If you're a designer and you've never attended IPC APEX EXPO, this is a great year to start. There’s more design curriculum at the conference this year than ever before. I counted 14 design-related Professional Development Courses and a half-dozen technical presentations related to design.

The classes don't just focus on design techniques. They cover everything from the basics of design to avoiding over-constraining high-speed boards, designing for flex, test, design for reality, chiplet design, and DFM. If you don't come to the conference, you're missing out.

For the April 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine, we start with a conversation with IPC’s Patrick Crawford and Kris Moyer, who discuss the IPC Design Competition, which takes place midweek during the show. Then, Cory Blaylock explains how IPC has lobbied the Labor Department to designate PCB design engineer as an official career, which will allow analysts to more accurately track data about this segment’s demographics, salaries, etc. Kelly Allen outlines IPC’s philosophy for PCB design training and education. Carlos Plaza explains what industry topics are hot in education, and why the hottest topic of all may be onboarding.

Filbert Arzola walks us through his two Professional Development Courses—one focusing on constraining your board correctly and the other on mixed-signal wire-bond techniques. As Fil says, today’s designers need to think like electrical engineers when setting up constraints. Graham Blacksmith discusses what he learned in Kris Moyer’s PCB Design I and II classes, and how he was able to utilize his takeaways immediately on the job. IPC’s Robert Erickson updates us on IPC’s courses for PCB designers and design engineers, at IPC APEX EXPO and year-round.

We also bring you columns from Vern Solberg, Martyn Gaudion, and Matt Stevenson, and part two of an article on heavy copper by Yash Sutariya.

We’ll be bringing you full coverage of IPC APEX EXPO through our Real Time with…IPC video interview program.

This column originally appeared in the April 2024 issue of Design007 Magazine.