IPC Bestows Posthumous Hall of Fame Award to Industry Icon Michael Ford

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IPC honored the late Michael Ford, Aegis Software, for his extraordinary contributions to the global electronics manufacturing industry with the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award at IPC APEX EXPO 2024. IPC’s most prestigious honor, the Hall of Fame Award is given to individuals who have provided exceptional service and advancement to IPC and the electronics industry. Ford, an industry leader and valued IPC volunteer, died suddenly in January 2024.

Ford is credited as a driving force behind the creation of IPC Connected Factory Exchange, (IPC-CFX), the global standard that simplifies and standardizes machine-to-machine communication while also facilitating machine-to-business and business-to-machine applications.

Ford was the recipient of several IPC awards, including the Hillman-Lambert Award, the IPC President’s Award, the Dieter Bergman Fellowship Award, several Golden Gnome awards, and numerous standards committee leadership and special recognition awards.

“Michael was a visionary,” said John W. Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “He was not only a gifted, brilliant engineer, but his ability to seek and obtain collaboration gained him loyal friends and colleagues throughout the industry. He was as generous with his knowledge as he was approachable. As many people have said, he shouldered the weight of projects he was involved in, and we owe it to him to carry on the path he generously paved for us. He will be greatly missed.”

Jason Spera, CEO, Aegis Software, accepted the award on behalf of Ford. In his acceptance remarks, Spera had this to say of Ford’s impact upon the electronics industry, “Michael leaves a great legacy of contribution to the electronics industry. That legacy will now be a new step, upon which everything our industry achieves going forward, rises. We can rest assured that this is what Michael hoped for most from his work.”