IPC, Association Connecting Electronics Industries published attendance figures from IPC Apex Expo, held at the Man-dalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas during April 2010, with a 10 percent increase over last year and more as 3,700 attendees. In total, about 6.700 attendees and exhibitors representing 41 countries participated in this event.
The IPC Apex trade show celebrated more than only the tenth anniversary: optimism was shown everywhere at the industry’s event, featuring advanced and emerging technologies in printed board design and manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. Over 300 exhibitors had showcased their newest equipment, materials, chemistry, software and services. A wide range of products and innovations around electronics. Innovations like DEK Sentinel from DEK International for example, a productivity-enhancing print verification and process management technology that captures the full board image, analyzes the data and accepts or rejects the print, all in real time. The system also has the capability to manage printing inputs and outputs as well as integrate verification and traceability tools. IC Thermal Detection Unit by Seica Inc. compares temperature profiles of known good boards to suspect boards. The units aid in indicting bad ICs in the depot repair environment and in field return diagnostics. The innovative product offers a number of benefits, including being fully automatic, the ability to be used in combination with traditional ICT and FCT test programs and removing any subjectivity due to the DSP analysis being performed. EFD, a Nordson company presented UV-traceable solder paste which allows easier verification of solder application and reflow on automated assembly lines for greater process control. It also improves quality and reduces rework and rejects by indicating whether there are any missed deposits or deposits that failed to reflow.
Also visitors were able to network with industry experts, learn more from research papers and return to their company with solutions to today’s challenges. They could even contribute to the global industry standards and guidelines that their company, suppliers and competitors rely on by attending IPC standards development meetings.
In celebration the anniversary there were seen special Apex10 logos and ribbons in the exhibition and conference areas. The increased attendance presented good news for the exhibitors on the show floor in Las Vegas and signaled that the downturn of the electronic industry seems stopping and confidence returning back. The message was much more positive than during the last show in Las Vegas. So Roberta Foster-Smith, Manager, Global Marketing Communications of Nordson Asymtek. “The show exceeded our expectations and enabled us to meet familiar faces as well as prospective customers with real project and investment opportunities.” Exhibitors reported an evident trend upwards in bookings and positive investment outlook during show time. Also the Director of Market Development, Systems Design Division at Valor impressions confirmed that the trade fair met all expectations and resulted in new opportunities and actual sales through meetings with qualified executive management level show visitors.
The participation in the educational offerings, including the technical conference, professional development courses and executive management meetings increased 49 percent over last year. The show confirmed the fact that the global recession was behind us and will return to the Mandalay Bay Convention Center, April 12 to 14, 2011. (dj)
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