Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/612684
28 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 dia as well as actively working with our Europe- an and Russian representatives and our network of distributors throughout Europe. Goldman: As I mentioned to you, this month we focus on our trade associations and what they do, how they help their members, why people should be members, and so forth. Maybe you want to talk a little bit about the standardization programs: what they involve, and why we have standards and specifications. Bergman: I think you probably had an oppor- tunity to talk to my boss, John Mitchell. I as- sume that he spoke to you about IPC's four as- pirational goals, that is, standards, education, advocacy and solutions. Goldman: Yes, and he did indeed talk about the goals. Bergman: Standards are certainly the number one goal of the IPC organization and they are how people normally become aware of IPC for the first time. Faced with a callout of IPC stan- dards on a purchase order they probably say, "What's this spec, and why is it required by my customer?" It becomes the first window of op- portunity for somebody to experience IPC. From the international perspective, we formed in the USA in the '50s, but we have had participation from companies outside of North America since the early '60s. As the industry be- came increasingly global, IPC has invited com- panies to get involved and participate in IPC standardization worldwide. We have had efforts in Europe for many years and continue to try to grow IPC committee working group activities there. Our first IPC standard developed outside of North America came from Denmark. A group of companies informed IPC HQ that they wanted to work on a solder paste inspection standard. IPC encouraged this effort and this group of dedicated Danish companies supported by IPC's training center in Denmark, Hytek, found out indeed they could create a new IPC standard while not standing in the USA. IPC started standards meetings in China around 2004. When you are dealing with Eng- lish as a second language and you want a use- ful, effective standard, you need a technically accurate translation. It's not good enough to translate only the words. The meaning has to be communicated. You spend a lot of time saying, "What does this English mean?" so that some- body can transmit or communicate that in an- other language. We now have about 30 committees that are active in China. It requires a lot of translation but once the committee members actively par- ticipate they realize that, they can see the value of what's in the standard and they recognize that their company should be participating in future. We also have standards revisions. Af- ter revision work is complete, the committee members realize that they are welcome to try to develop proposals for new standards as well. We receive requests from companies for new standards that are relevant for their market but might not have as strong an interest in North America. This is certainly encouraged by IPC's global perspective. China is not the final stop on this journey. IPC took this model and we did the same thing in India as well as Korea, with a handful of key committees looking at IPC's most popular stan- dards such as 610, 620 and 001. The IPC standards lead into our next aspi- IPC STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY VP TALKS INTERNATIONAL REACH, TECHNOLOGY, AND MORE FeATure inTerview