Taking place from 27th-28th June in Düsseldorf, Germany, IPC will host 'Reliability Forum: Emerging Technologies'. This two day event will address building reliability into electronic products utilising newer technologies and processes in every phase of the product launch cycle. The forum will include a tutorial from Plexus on 'Design for Excellence' that will provide best practices in design, assembly, and problem analysis.

The European Union (EU) Council have voted to adopt a regulation regarding the sourcing of conflict minerals in high risk zones. The vote took place on the 3rd April 2017. Approval by the EU Council is the end of the formal legislative process and the regulation, which was approved by the European Parliament in March, will take effect in 2021.   

The growing involvement of the Connected Factory Exchange (CFX) has been announced by IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries. The 2-17 Connected Factory Initiative Subcommittee is comprised of representatives of the electronic industry’s leading manufacturers, machine, device, sensor and software companies.

Representatives of industry’s leading manufacturers, machine, device, sensor and software companies that comprise IPC’s 2-17 Connected Factory Initiative Subcommittee have made significant strides in developing a machine data interface standard, 'Connected Factory Exchange or CFX' that would enable manufacturers, equipment, device and software suppliers to achieve Industry 4.0 benefits.

IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries has issued a position paper, “The New EU Skills Agenda: Addressing the Skills Gap Facing the European Advanced Manufacturing Industry” in support of the EU Skills Agenda which seeks to improve the quality of European labour market.

IPC has announced the October 2016 findings from its monthly North American PCB (Printed Circuit Board) Statistical Program. The PCB book-to-bill ratio continued to strengthen, climbing to 1.08, while sales and orders were both down in October.

The world market for Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) reached an estimated $58.6bn in value in 2015 according to IPC’s World PCB Production Report for the Year 2015. This represents a nominal decrease of 2.7% from 2014, but factoring out the effects of exchange rate fluctuations, the growth of PCB output was actually up 2.0% in real terms.

An ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) Control certification course is being introduced by IPC – Association Connecting Electronics Industries, for electronics assembly trainers and operators. The courses and certifications will be delivered on the IPC learning management system, IPC EDGE.

IPC and SMTA have announced the High-Reliability Cleaning and Conformal Coating Conference (Oct 25-27) at the Hyatt Rosemont, Rosemont, IL. The conference is focused on best practices for designing, cleaning and coating highly dense electronic assemblies to assure reliability in today’s mobile society and Siva Sivasankar of Google will give the Keynote address on “Building Reliable Hardware.”

Industry-leading associations IPC and SMTA jointly announce the High-Reliability Cleaning and Conformal Coating Conference, scheduled to take place October 25-27, 2016 at Hyatt Rosemont, Rosemont, IL. The conference is focused on best practices for designing, cleaning and coating highly dense electronic assemblies to assure reliability in today’s mobile society.

Trade Agreements' Impact on the Electronics Industry, released last week by IPC is a topic brief that explores the details of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (T-TIP) and the TransPacific Partnership (TPP). In particular, the brief addresses the potential impacts of these trade agreements on the various segments and regions of the global electronics industry.

IPC just announced the July 2016 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Compared to the same month last year, PCB sales growth continued in July, while order growth was negative, causing the book-to-bill ratio to slip to 0.94.

IPC has published its Study of Quality Benchmarks for Electronics Assembly 2016. The annual study provides valuable benchmarking data to electronics assembly companies interested in comparing quality measurements to industry averages.

IPC (Association Connecting Electronics Industries) has announced plans to start the development of a new standard intended to cover the qualifications and acceptance requirements for press-fit pin technology that includes the reliability needs for automotive and other industries, such as aerospace.

IPC's Validation Services Program has awarded an IPC J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 Qualified Manufacturers Listing (QML) to ALPHA-electronics, an ISO9001 and ISO13485 certified EMS-based company in Europe.

IPC is introducing three new quarterly subscription reports designed to provide electronics manufacturers with a competitive edge that comes from having solid, timely and reliable market research data.

The deadline of the invitation for engineers, researchers, academics, technical experts and industry leaders to submit abstracts for IPC APEX EXPO 2017 to be held at the San Diego Convention Center has been extended by IPC. Professional development courses will take place 12th, 13th, and 16th Februar, 2017 and the technical conference will take place 14th-16th February, 2017. The extended deadline is 8th July, 2016.

IPC has announced  the May 2016 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales and orders in May continued ahead of last year’s levels, but at slower rates than in recent month. The book-to-bill ratio also declined slightly but remains positive at 1.01.

In September 2015, IPC delivered revision D of IPC-6012, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards. Building on this base standard, IPC has just developed the first automotive addendum, IPC-6012DA, Automotive Applications Addendum to IPC-6012D Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards.

IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries  has announced the April 2016 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Sales and orders in April both exceeded last year’s levels and the book-to-bill ratio stands at 1.02.