PCB007 Magazine

PCB-Dec2015

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10 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 pATTy's perspeCTive ing and testing. There are no excuses not to participate in the writing and revising of standards that you use and that affect your business. You don't have to physically attend a meeting; travel is entirely optional in this day and age. You just need to be willing to put in a little time. Uyemura's George Milad is one of those; we see each other once or twice a year, usually at an IPC meeting, and we catch up or reminisce or just find lots of things to talk about. Seems we have all changed jobs at least a few times– one time you are the customer, the next you are the supplier; this has happened to me multiple times with many different friends. For this issue, I thought maybe a little his- tory would be interesting. I asked Dan Feinberg to give us a brief history of the founding of IPC Expo (now with APEX added in). I remember it all too well. There was much uncertainty on the part of nearly everyone as to how well it would succeed. Many were against it, but NEP- CON was the 800-pound gorilla and stripping a lot of money out of our industry so…well, I'll let Dan tell you. Following that, you'll hear from John Mitch- ell, president of IPC, certainly the largest and most prominent association in our industry. He fills us in on all that IPC is and stands for. Also on hand from IPC is Dave Bergman, IPC's VP of Standards and Technology, who brings us an international perspective. As I mentioned, there are many organiza- tions serving our industry and some necessary overlap. In fact, often there seems to be some competition between organizations going on—something I believe should be avoided as much as possible. But while there is definitely competition for technical presentations and of course membership dollars, I've noticed that there does seem to be coordination to avoid actual overlap of meetings and shows. This is good, because we don't need our associations and organizations at odds with each other. To that point, Insulectro's Jason Marsh provides us with a real-time example of conflicting interests between organizations and members. We got input from a number of regional or- ganizations besides IPC for this PCB-focused is- sue, including the European Institute of Printed Circuits (EIPC), the China Printed Circuit Asso- ciation (CPCA), the Hong Kong Printed Circuit Association (HKPCA) and the Indian Printed Circuit Association (IPCA). We used a standard set of questions to help with comparisons. An interview (conducted at productronica) with EIPC's Alun Morgan and Kirsten Smit-Westen- berg is next in our line-up. We also have three question/answer ex- changes: one with the Secretary General of CPCA, Miss Jin Zhang, another with HKPCA, finally, with Secretary K.S. Babu of the IPCA. Now back to learn some more about oth- er arms of the IPC. In an interview with Fern Abrams, IPC's director of regulatory affairs and government relations, we get a great update on what's happening on that end. Next, Randy Cherry, IPC's Director of Validation Services, fills us in on that program as well as the latest program called Standards Gap Analysis. To give you, dear reader, a more rounded picture of IPC (sorry, but they are the big one out there), we have input from three noted volunteers in that organization. First is a col- umn by Doug Sober (a.k.a. Mr. Laminate) who explains some of the committee structure of the IPC and IEC (International Electrotechni- cal Commission). He also puts out a call, so to speak, to those interested in working on indus- try standards. Next is an interview with Renee Michalkie- wicz, of NTS, explaining the role of chairman of the TAEC. She also talks about a mentorship program that is just starting up. Getting in- volved writing specifications in a subcommit- tee is just one volunteer role. For those that are THE ASSOCIATIONS ISSUE " There are no excuses not to participate in the writing and revising of standards that you use and that affect your business. "

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