Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1083315
124 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2019 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE by Steve Williams THE RIGHT APPROACH CONSULTING The 2019 iteration of IPC APEX EXPO in San Diego in late January had a lot to offer and did not disappoint, depending on your perspective and place in the electronics food chain. CM-centric I am old enough to remember when this conference was primarily for printed cir- cuit fabricators and raw material suppliers. NEPCON, the predecessor of the current IPC APEX EXPO show, was legendary in the PCB fabrication industry with multiple shows and locations each year. Until the past five to 10 years, this show was much the same. As I walked through the two show floor halls, it was crystal clear that this venue has morphed into a showplace for contract manufacturers and equipment suppliers to CMs. For the last few years, printed circuit fabricators are rel- egated to "PCB row"—the last couple of rows in the primary hall that house one or two U.S. companies and a handful of Asian ones. I'm not saying this is bad, just different. Keynote I attended the keynote by JB Straubel, the brains (CTO and co-founder) behind Tesla's electric car empire. Not being an advocate of electric vehicles, I wasn't sure what to expect and was more than a little bit skeptical going in. However, I was happily impressed with his talk. Everyone knows Elon Musk, but it was a very interesting story of Tesla's innovation from the guy who invented their electric vehi- cle technology. Video Interviews As I normally do, much of my time was spent as a guest editor in the I-Connect007 booth doing Real Time with… IPC APEX EXPO 2019 video interviews with some of the personalities and companies in our business. View the full library to see other interviews conducted by other guest editors and me. Below is a synopsis of my most interesting interviews of the show. In a shameless shout- out, the folks at I-Connect007 do a fantastic job at all the shows finding the people, prod - ucts, and companies that PCB fabricators want to hear from. IPC APEX EXPO 2019 Observations