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Real Time with... productronica 2023: Taiyo America's Many Shades of Green

John Fix discusses principal challenges in North America and Europe. Environmental concerns are very high visibility in Europe. Fix provides details on melamine mitigation in Taiyo America’s products, as well as other environmentally tricky chemicals and wasteful packaging.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week’s news items taught me a few things I didn’t know. For instance, there’s news about the new equipment for THT work, governmental support for advanced packaging technologies, an upcoming webinar from iNEMI on counterfeits, an interview with U.S. Rep. Blake Moore, one of the sponsors of the bipartisan Protecting Circuit Boards and Substrates Act, and columnist Tim Haag, using Star Trek to illustrate why simplicity is, ahem, paramount.

Amitron Progressing Toward a Factory 5.0 Future

Aidan Salvi, chief transformation officer, updates Nolan Johnson on the modernization activity under way at Amitron. Aidan shares that Amitron has added 62 different pieces of new equipment on their production floor, and shares details on what that means for Amitron’s production capabilities, data management, and progress toward a Factory 5.0 future.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: ATG's a9a Tester Delivers Flexibility

Peter Brandt gives Pete Starkey a tour of atg’s latest addition to the a9 line of equipment, the a9a tester for routed boards up to 25 x 21 inches in size. Small and medium size customers requiring small quantity flexibility, or advance technology testing, are atg’s target customers for the a9a.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: Jayda Tool Brings More Capability to Ucamco's Product Portfolio

Karel Tavernier and Pete Starkey reconnect to discuss the new tool, Jayda, and how it complements Ucamco’s Integr8tor workflow system to optimize CAM processes.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: Aismalibar Poised to Meet Thermal Management Challenges

Technical Editor Pete Starkey and Aismalibar's Eduardo Benmayor reflect on opportunities and challenges for thermal management and the battery industry and discusses Aismalibar's product solutions.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: Dennis Pusch Shares Features of Schmoll's Direct Imaging System

In this interview, Pete Starkey speaks with Dennis Pusch of Schmoll Maschinen and Kurt Palmer of Burkle North America about Schmoll's newest DI system. Dedicated to fineline imaging, Schmoll’s MDI Ultra supports PCB manufacturers moving into IC substrate manufacturing.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: Altix, MGI Team Up for Inkjet Solution

Pete Starkey speaks with Frederic Soulier and Damien Boureau from Altix and MGI Digital Technology. The combined expertise of two innovative companies lead to a radically simplified digital solution for solder mask and additive processes in one machine.

Real Time with... productronica 2023: TSK Finds Benefits in Vacuum Etching

Marc Aicheler and Pete Starkey discuss TSK’s horizontal vacuum systems, including vacuum etching process equipment. Aicheler details the benefits of a vacuum etch in managing challenges such as etchant puddling, etc. Aicheler also teases at a vacuum alkaline etchant systems as well.

Registration: From Raw Data to Intelligent Manufacturing 

While previous industrial revolutions have introduced factories, mass production, and computer-controlled systems, the advent of Industry 4.0 and the concept of the Smart factory have ushered in a new era in PCB manufacturing. For the PCB industry it is a very ambitious and aspirational objective to evolve from disconnected processes to an integrated system with automated data capture, real-time data analysis, process visualization, autonomous control, and self-correcting processes. 

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

I learned to cook late in life, and Allrecipes.com is my go-to recipe source. Their recipes are peer-reviewed, you might say, and they’re always dead-on. So, this week, I present my top five recipes for traditional Thanksgiving dishes; these will also work well for Christmas dinner, or any big family gathering. Enjoy!

The Finer Points: World Champions of the IPC Hand-Soldering Finals

Productronica 2023 played host to the IPC World Hand Soldering Competition, bringing talented regional solder champions from all over the globe to compete for the title of World Champion. Each competitor was given sixty minutes to assemble a complex printed circuit board with their performance judged in accordance with IPC-A-610 Class 3 criteria. Each competitor’s efforts were rated on the merits of the results achieved, scored on the quality of the assembly process, the electrical functionality of the assembly and the speed at which the assembly was produced.

Check Out Our Real Time with... productronica 2023 Interviews

Last week in Munich, 42,000 visitors descended on productronica’s 88,000 square meters of show space over eight sprawling halls to see some of the 1,400 exhibitors, representing 45 countries worldwide and all parts of the PCB/SMT supply chain. If you weren’t able to make it to productronica this year, don’t worry. We’ve got you covered. 

Happy Thanksgiving From the I-Connect007 Team

As we each take a moment to enjoy life and reflect on the goodness in our lives today, everyone here at I-Connect007 wishes you and yours a Thanksgiving full of family, friends, and lots of delicious carb-laden food. Today, we are also thankful our readers, our columnists and contributors, and our team members.

Marcy’s Musings: Productronica 2023 and Coming Home

Productronica has concluded and I have wrapped up my first two weeks back on the I-Connect007 team. I’m exhausted, and I am looking forward to bit of a “lie in” as they say around here. It’s time to be home. It was a great week in Munich. The show had 42,000 visitors, all descending on 88,000 square meters of show space over eight sprawling halls, to see some 1,400 exhibitors, representing 45 countries worldwide and all parts of the PCB/SMT provider supply chain. It appears the show has regained pre-pandemic levels of engagement, and we congratulate them.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

On a global scale, productronica has been dominating the news this week, mostly with announcements and show preliminaries. It’s been a long and full week for those who have exhibited and attended the trade show (despite the November rain), and I encourage you to review our productronica coverage from this week. In the coming days, we’ll be showcasing more photos, videos, and interviews, so please stay tuned.

Productronica 2023: It’s a Wrap!

It’s the last day of productronica 2023, the doors are closed, and will not reopen until November 2025. The show was a success, however, there is still talk about uncertainty in the economy. Of course, those that service the defense industry are busy, while other industries lag behind. As exhibitors finished up their last conversations, the halls began to empty out, final sales were made, and IPC wrapped up its World Hand Soldering Championship. Even the rain let up for a bit.

Productronica 2023: Day 2 Review

After a rainy Tuesday for the start of productronica, we had a brief respite on Wednesday morning, so we were able to walk from the U-bahn to the west entrance of Messe München without getting wet. We were accompanied by a horde of eager exhibition attendees mobbing the turnstiles to get into what promised to be an even livelier second day of the show. Yes, productronica has come back to life after COVID and re-established its identity as a premier event with more than 1,300 exhibitors from 45 countries, together with an exclusive supporting program.

Productronica 2023: Day 1 Review

The November rain didn’t stop the long line of attendees waiting at the door for productronica 2023 to open Tuesday, November 14 in Munich, Germany. Exhibitors and attendees came from all over the world to be part of this biannual event, and the crowds were strong. The most recent productronica, held in 2021, drew over 19,000 visitors from 68 countries.

Advice From a Young Professional

As I reflect on my opportunity to as the IPC Student Board Member, I'm eager to share three impressions with our wonderful community: Executive leaders of IPC value the input of students and young professionals; the electronics manufacturing industry is undergoing a changing of the guard, and many of the most experienced players are looking to share their hard-earned wisdom. I've been exceptionally fortunate to receive invaluable career advice that I wish to pass on to anyone else beginning their professional career.

Munich Opening Its Doors to productronica 2023 This Week

Messe Munchen's productronica 2023, one of the world’s biggest electronics manufacturing trade shows, begins Tuesday in Munich. The key topics for this year’s forums and live demonstrations are power electronics, AI, and sensors in electronics production. The show features more than 1,300 exhibitors occupying nearly 90,000 square meters in eight halls of the massive 200,000 square meter venue.

I-Connect007 Editor’s Choice: Five Must-Reads for the Week

This week's edition focuses almost entirely on young people. This in itself is quite a feat as not long ago, there were no young people coming into this industry. Now, we have a small but steady stream of young folks entering the industry, and we’re focusing on providing them with the latest training and education. Our industry, for a variety of reasons, is now attractive to people born in this millennium. Didn’t see that coming!

Simplifying Your Design

For this issue on simplifying PCB designs, the I-Connect007 Editorial Team spoke with IPC instructor Kris Moyer about ways that designers can avoid over-constraining their designs and making them needlessly complex. As Kris says, streamlining your design comes down to having a solid understanding of fab and assembly processes and the silicon tradeoffs that can simplify or overcomplicate your design, as well as the need to start working with fabricators early in the cycle.

PCB Carolina 2023 Breaks Attendance, Exhibitor Records

Call it a good problem to have. PCB Carolina 2023 was so big that that exhibitors were literally spilling out of the show floor at NC State’s MacKimmon Center for Continuing and Lifelong Education. This year, PCB Carolina drew 1,200 attendees and so many exhibitors that some “overflow” booths had to be set up in a classroom near the show floor, as well as in the registration area. Where did all these attendees come from? The line for lunch and dinner looked what you’d see at DesignCon

Meet the New Workforce at IPS

I recently visited IPS in Cedar City, Utah, which has been manufacturing wet process equipment for printed circuit boards fabrication for more than 30 years. While there, I conducted candid one-on-one interviews with several of the team members. They shared their views on manufacturing, their roles and challenges, their burgeoning passion for what they do, and valuable advice for others looking at manufacturing as a career.
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