Although the first day of the show appeared to be a little quieter than in previous years, this year’s SMT/Hybrid/Packaging turned out to have been very successful during the following two days. On Europe’s leading event on System Integration in Micro Electronics 633 exhibitors and 87 represented companies from 29 countries presented the latest products, innovations and trends on a total of 29,600 square metres. The high percentage of foreign exhibitors (33 % this year) underlined the show´s international importance. 24,382 trade visitors from nearly 50 countries used the SMT fair to keep abreast of the latest industry innovations and trends.
486 attendees made use of the education offer provided by the concurrent conference and 23 tutorials. Among numerous special features various new products were offered. The exhibitors were highly satisfied with the quality of the exhibition and the quality of the contacts made during the show, and are expecting plenty of follow-up business. 87 % of the exhibitors classified the trade fair as very good/good overall. 91 % of the exhibitors evaluated the support of Mesago as very good/good and 83 % of the exhibitors appreciated the quality of visitors as very good/good. Vice versa: 88 % of the visitors rated the range of exhibitors as very good/good. 93 % rated the quality of the products as very good/good and the exhibition on the whole was rated as very good/good by 89 % of the visitors. Reasons for attending the show were to meet with potential suppliers or customers (84 %), to inquire about new products 65 %, to find solutions for occured problems 51 % and for purchases planned 43 %. 92 % of the visitors plan to attend SMT 2009.
Several highlights were presented. Under the motto: “Automotive Electronics – technological and logistical challenges in assembly manufacturing” VDI/VDE presented jointly with partners from industry and research by means of a state-of-the-art production line which highlights and challenges during the production of assemblies for automotive applications exist and which requirements of process reliability, quality assurance and assembly logistic are involved.
The trade journals EPP and EPP Europe, both part of Konradin Media Group, organized a benchmark test of in-line stencil printers. There were five test runs each day. Test results were presented to the attendees straight away at the booth and online after the show (for coverage in this issue see page 46).
An audience of over 2,000 visitors listened to the panel discussions and product presentations at the exhibition forums in hall 7 and 8. Totally 52 presentations took place. The most attractive sessions – with nearly 80 attendees per slot – have been the panel discussions on the topics such as „Automotive Electronics – technological and logistical challenges in assembly manufacturing”, “EMS: As partner established”, „Package on Package Assembly POPA, Inspection and Rework“ as well as „LGA/QFP Inspection and ReworkGuide“. Likewise topics such as “Optics meets Electronics” and the expert panel “Traceability” as well as the discussion forum VdL/ZVEI “Experiences with two years lead-free” and “EMS in focus – success concepts, trends and strategies” attracted brisk interest. In total, 486 attendees took advantage of the educational offer and the ideal networking opportunities provided by the concurrent conference and 23 tutorials. The conference day addressed the up-to-date and future oriented topic “Requirements on Electronic Assemblies for Automotive Manufacturing“ and was well received. The three most popular tutorials were “ Lead-free Reliability”, “ Mixed Assembly on: PCBs, COB and SMT” as well as “ Packaging technologies for high reliability of electronic modules”.
The proportion of participants from abroad came up to 17 %. Conference attendees came from 13 countries, e.g. Switzerland (37 %), Austria (28 %), Netherlands (10 %), USA (9 %), Belgium (3 %), France (3 %).
In 2009 the SMT show will take place from May 5th to 7th in Nuremberg. (mesago/jau).
EPP Europe 400
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