Standard of Excellence: Looking Five Years Into the Future
The Knowledge Base: The Difference Between Critical and Distracting Decision-making
Punching Out: Breaking Down Legal Preparations for M&AThe Data Brings Us Together
May 22, 2024 | Nolan Johnson, I-Connect007Estimated reading time: 1 minute
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 wrapped up after a week of immersion in printed circuits and electronics manufacturing, so why did I keep thinking about wood joinery as I flew home rather than fabrication and assembly?
Dovetail joints are an elegant and effective way to create a corner joint between two pieces of wood. Done well, dovetail joints don’t require any fasteners, often get by without any glue, and the joint can withstand loads in nearly all directions. The dovetail interface itself seems simultaneously simple and complex.
While in Anaheim, I kept looking for the one key theme at the center of innovation in electronics manufacturing, but I came up empty. From my perspective, IPC APEX EXPO showcased five major areas more or less equally, with these trends dovetailing together to create a greater, stronger whole.
Trend No. 1: Accessibility
Process interoperability and automation—spurred on by big data developments—have chipped away at any previous “walled garden” data models. All that process data isn’t considered vendor-proprietary any longer, and that shift changes things. At the association level, this kind of accessibility is being reflected in the industry. Cases in point are the iNEMI/IPC collaborations on strategic market reports and the latest version of the iNEMI technology roadmap (reconfigured for easy research and made available to the public at no charge). The IPC/WHMA partnership continues to blossom as well, creating a more seamless flow between wire harnesses and assembly.
Trend No. 2: Increased collaboration
This increased accessibility can be traced to increased collaboration throughout. At IPC APEX EXPO four years ago, I asked CFX leaders, “Now that CFX is creating all this data, how do we make it useful?” At that time, the responses were visionary and a look to the future. Now, companies from a variety of sectors are working together to move that data up the stack from sensor to data to analytics to action.
To read this entire article, which appeared in the 2024 issue of Show & Tell Magazine, click here.
Share on:
Suggested Items
NEC, Ursa Space Collaborate on Satellite Image Analysis Services Using One of the World's Largest Virtual Constellations
06/21/2024 | JCN NewswireNEC Corporation and Ursa Space Systems Inc. (Ursa Space) have agreed to collaborate on satellite image data analysis services. By combining services and technologies, the two companies will provide solutions for various applications for enterprises.
Manufacturing Industry's Path to Innovation and Efficiency Lies in Exponential IT, Says Info-Tech Research Group
06/18/2024 | Info-Tech Research GroupFacing heightened competition, aging legacy equipment, and significant technical debt, the manufacturing sector is under immense pressure to innovate and modernize its operations, Info-Tech Research Group explains in a new industry resource.
Looking Into Space: EIPC Summer Conference, Part 2
06/17/2024 | Pete Starkey, I-Connect007“Innovative Development of PCB Technology and Design” was the theme of the second session of the 2024 EIPC Summer Conference, June 4-5, at the European Space Centre, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.
NASA’s Roman Mission Gets Cosmic ‘Sneak Peek’ From Argonne Supercomputer
06/14/2024 | BUSINESS WIREResearchers are diving into a synthetic universe to help us better understand the real one. Using the Theta supercomputer at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Argonne National Laboratory in Illinois, scientists have created nearly four million simulated images depicting the cosmos as NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope and the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile, jointly funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and DOE, will see it.
Hera and its CubeSats Speak with Mission Control
06/14/2024 | ESAESA’s Hera asteroid mission and its two CubeSats interacted as if they were in space, within the foam pyramid-lined walls of the Agency’s Maxwell test chamber in the Netherlands.