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Beyond the Rulebook
What happens when the rule book is no longer useful, or worse, was never written in the first place? In today’s fast-moving electronics landscape, we’re increasingly asked to design and build what has no precedent, no proven path, and no tidy checklist to follow. This is where “Design for Invention” begins.
March Madness
From the growing role of AI in design tools to the challenge of managing cumulative tolerances, these articles in this issue examine the technical details, design choices, and manufacturing considerations that determine whether a board works as intended.
Looking Forward to APEX EXPO 2026
I-Connect007 Magazine previews APEX EXPO 2026, covering everything from the show floor to the technical conference. For PCB designers, we move past the dreaded auto-router and spotlight AI design tools that actually matter.
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Axion Raises $37M Series B to Power the Future of American Manufacturing
December 16, 2025 | PRNewswireEstimated reading time: 3 minutes
Axion, the pioneering AI platform for manufacturing product quality, announced a $37 million Series B funding round led by Salesforce Ventures with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, Schneider Electric Ventures, and other existing investors. Axion's platform, combining domain-specialized AI algorithms with human-in-the-loop problem solving workflows, serves as the operating layer underpinning America's manufacturing revival.
Fortune 500 manufacturers face growing pressure to release sophisticated, innovative products while maintaining exceptional quality standards. Companies across industries - including data centers, automotive, aerospace, medtech, and consumer electronics - rely on Axion to make this possible.
Teams use Axion's proprietary intelligence platform to ensure superior product quality by detecting the earliest warning signals of emerging issues that could impact their customers. By addressing problems swiftly, manufacturers improve uptime, enhance customer experience, and significantly reduce warranty costs. Importantly, Axion shifts quality from reactive to proactive, closing customer feedback loops and unifying data sets to enable manufacturers to ideate and develop the next generation of products, driving innovation across their entire product suite.
"Axion gives manufacturers the power to detect and solve customer issues faster than ever before," said Daniel First, CEO and founder of Axion. "With new investments from Salesforce Ventures and Schneider Electric Ventures, we're building the foundation for manufacturers to bring innovative products to market that customers love."
Driving Product Excellence and Improved Customer Experience
Axion's human-in-the-loop AI platform helps manufacturers detect customer issues earlier, fix them faster, and build products the world loves. It delivers concrete results in weeks and removes costly efforts to establish root causes of issues, which can take months and severely impact customer trust. This transforms how manufacturers ensure product quality by:
- Improving product uptime and reliability for end customers
- Reducing warranty costs by millions, through proactive issue detection and resolution
- Accelerating root cause analysis by 85% on average
"Axion's quality intelligence creates a powerful feedback loop that connects product performance directly to customer satisfaction, empowering teams to build better products, improve customer experiences, and drive meaningful business outcomes," said Paul Drews, Managing Partner at Salesforce Ventures. "We're excited to support Axion as they help manufacturers turn quality into a strategic advantage."
A Unified Approach to Solving Customer Issues
Salesforce Ventures' investment in Axion will serve as a network multiplier, immediately opening new possibilities for manufacturers to unify their customer problem-solving operations through the Salesforce ecosystem and beyond. Many of Axion's Fortune 500 customers already rely on Salesforce Data Cloud and Salesforce Service Cloud, creating natural integration opportunities that connect customer outcomes to product enhancements.
"The synergy between Axion, Salesforce Ventures, and the Salesforce ecosystem is transformative for our mutual customers," added First. "Manufacturers can now have a more holistic, integrated approach to solving customer problems. This unified approach helps companies like Cummins and SharkNinja not only build better products, but also deliver exceptional customer experiences when issues do arise."
Supporting Innovation
"The best manufacturers compete on product quality and customer experience," said James Ezhaya, VP Power Products Quality & Sustainability at Schneider Electric. "Axion gives quality teams the insights they need to ensure every product meets the highest standards, increasing uptime and reducing warranty costs."
"In medical devices, product quality directly impacts patient outcomes and lives," said Kiran Kuppuswamy, Vice President of Quality at Medtronic. "Axion can identify potential quality issues with unprecedented speed and accuracy, helping us maintain the rigorous standards required while accelerating our time to market."
Accelerating the Future of Customer-Centric Engineering
The funding will enable Axion to expand its AI capabilities, accelerate product development, and support more manufacturers in their pursuit of delivering high-quality, reliable products.
"We're giving manufacturers the clarity and confidence to build world-class products," added First. "By helping companies like Medtronic and Daikin understand their customers' top issues, their teams can bring to market the next generation of products that customers love."
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Cicor Secures New Customers in Q1
04/14/2026 | CicorCicor Group recorded a strong order intake in the first quarter of 2026, in particular driven by the Aerospace & Defence (A&D) market.
Standard of Excellence: Engineering Is the New Sales—How Technical Collaboration Wins Business
04/15/2026 | Anaya Vardya -- Column: Standard of ExcellenceWhen it comes to complex, high-performance electronics, the line between sales and engineering has all but disappeared. Customers want more than a quote. They’re not simply buying boards; they’re buying understanding, so engineering is now the front line of customer trust, problem-solving, and long-term success. There was a time when sales meant persuasion, and engineering meant production. Today, the two are inseparable.
Technica Announces Tech Day Event Dates and Agenda
04/13/2026 | Technica USATechnica USA announced today the return of its highly anticipated Tech Day events, marking the revival of a long‑standing customer engagement series. Personal invitations have been issued to customers detailing event dates, participating partners, and the technical agenda.
Horizon Sales Expands Consumables Portfolio with ROCKA Partnership
04/10/2026 | Horizon SalesHorizon Sales, a leading manufacturers’ representative and distributor to the electronics industry, has been appointed as an official U.S. distributor for ROCKA Solutions, a North American manufacturer known for delivering high-quality, cost-effective consumables to the electronics manufacturing industry.
PHOTO GALLERY: A Show Floor Showcase, Part 2
04/03/2026 | I-Connect007Take a walk back through APEX EXPO with our photo gallery, capturing the faces, moments, and energy from across more than 400 booths on the show floor. This week, we’re highlighting our many customers, and some of the work in the I-Connect007 booth, where we conducted dozens of video and audio interviews. It’s a chance to see who was there, what was happening in real time, and maybe even spot yourself in the crowd.