It’s a Wrap for PCB West 2024

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

PCB West 2024 wraps up Friday, Oct. 11 at the Santa Clara Convention Center (SCCC) in sunny Santa Clara, California. The SCCC is situated next to the “new” Levi’s Stadium, home to the San Francisco 49ers, and directly adjacent to California’s Great America amusement park—both noteworthy landmarks for natives like me. The technical conference, Oct. 8-11, featured 50 technical presentations by 39 different speakers.

PCB West has long been a trade show fixture for the PCB industry on the West Coast and has remained a go-to event for PCB fabricators and suppliers. The straightforward, focused format seems to resonate with both exhibitors and attendees against a backdrop of what has once again become a nearly overwhelming number of annual industry events. The expo on the second day featured just over 100 exhibitors, all with equal-sized tabletop “booths” and no equipment, making an equal playing field for all.

The four-day technical conference included 10 free sessions during expo day, including “Engineering Knowledge Gaps” presented by Stephen Chavez of Siemens and “Nuke the Netlist” presented by Dana Korf of Nano Dimension and Terry Hoffman of Cisco Systems. As one would expect, AI garnered a fair amount of attention. The keynote presentation, “AI Roadmap for PCB Layout: New Opportunities for PCB Designers,” was presented by Charles Pfiel. The day ended with an AI discussion featuring panelists from Circuit Mind, Newgrange Design, Zuken, and Luminovo.

Sustainability is another popular topic, and I enjoyed the presentation by Ramon Roche of NCAB on “PCB and Circularity.” The electronics industry is responsible for over 50 million metric tons of e-waste each year. PCBs are a significant part of that, and the U.S. is lagging far behind other countries in our sustainability initiatives. To illustrate the concept of circularity, Ramon shared an image that expands the three Rs to “reform, reduce, reuse, recycle,” and highlighted the power of PCB design to positively affect sustainability by designing with circularity in mind.

He offered examples of designing thinner boards that require less fiberglass material and designing using additive PCB process technology so there is both less usage of raw materials and less waste. He asked, “Can we design a board with different materials, and perhaps use materials that can be recycled or reused?” In the reality of PCB manufacturing, this remains a daunting proposition. But the message was clear: These conversations must take place and continue as each of us plans for the future.

According to Frances Stewart, vice president of sales and marketing at PCEA, numbers saw a nice bump again this year. “We were delighted to have so many exhibitors come back as well as several new companies join this year,” she said. The show floor stayed busy throughout the day with good energy. It was clear that attendees were happy to be back.

I was pleasantly surprised to see so many old friends and the day went quickly. As one colleague headed off for a long drive north and I dropped another colleague off at the airport, I found myself pondering the state of the U.S. PCB industry once again. It is interesting that amid what often feels like continuous and dramatic technological change, much of the domestic industry over the past three decades has remained largely the same. It is simultaneously both a comfort and a concern, and obviously the focus of groups like PCBAA. What I know for sure is that I am always honored to spend time with the dynamic, intelligent, and fun individuals that make up the PCB industry.

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