52 The PCB Design Magazine • December 2016
Weiner's World
This year's TPCA (Taiwan Printed Circuits Associa-
tion) show held October 26–28 seemed to have
lighter attendance than last year. Robots were on
display everywhere, with lot of loaders and unload-
ers as well as the multi-axis, multipurpose types.
Walt Custer's Global Market Outlook
With 2016 winding down, Walt Custer shared his
end-of-the-year market research data with me at
the recent electronica trade show in Munich, Ger-
many. In our interview, Walt breaks down his find-
ings and offers insight into the changing trends as
we head into 2017.
IPC Standards Committee Reports—
Printed Board Design, Testing,
FlexCircuits, High-Speed/High-Frequency,
Rigid Printed Boards
These standards committee reports from IPC's
2016 Fall Committee Meetings have been com-
piled to help keep you up to date on IPC standards
committee activities. This is the first in a series of
reports.
All About Flex:
Specifying a Flexible Circuit
IPC has created a specification document, IPC 6013,
which is referenced for many flex circuit applica-
tions. This commercial document, in combination
with the CAD data and print, is used as the product
specification. Most flexible circuitry
fabricators' in-
ternal quality standards are based on IPC 6013.
Lenthor Engineering Adds Salina
Galindo-Luna to their Executive Team
California based designer, manufacturer and as-
sembler of rigid-flex and flex printed circuit
boards, Lenthor Engineering, announces the addi-
tion of the newest member of their executive staff,
Salina Galindo-Luna. In her new position, Salina
will help Lenthor improve their services by stream-
lining production processes and eliminating waste
to promote sustainable change.
EPTE Newsletter: Printable Electronics—
A Practical Solution?
I attended a printable electronics workshop in Ja-
pan a couple of weeks ago. The 200-person crowd
was made up of people from R&D organizations,
material suppliers and machine manufacturers. No
one there could be termed a customer; everyone
was there to learn and discuss the latest printable
electronics.
Standard of Excellence: Let's Get Flexible
Although flex and rigid-flex technology has been
around for many years, it is only in recent years
that it has come into its own. The reason for the
increased requirements for the flex and rigid-flex
technology is simple: Devices are getting smaller.
Schoeller Electronics Presenting a New
Organizational Structure in North America
At the recent SMTA International show in Rose-
mont, Illinois, I met Padraig McCabe at Schoeller
Electronics Systems' booth. It was obvious that
they had a lot going on so it was good to be able
to sit down and get the full story of their new orga-
nizational structure, name change and the recent
acquisitions of PCB companies.
Streamline Circuits: The Importance of
Being a Sales-Driven Organization
I recently had the pleasure of catching up with
Tom Doslak, senior VP of sales and marketing for
Streamline Circuits. We discussed how the com-
pany got started, technologies that seem to be
driving the marketplace, critical equipment for to-
day's PCB fabricator, and how being a customer-
centered, sales-driven organization serves as the
key to their success.
electronica 2016 Impressions
Germany's third-largest city, and capital of the
southeastern state of Bavaria, Munich was once
more the host to electronica, which can justifiably
claim to be the world's leading trade fair for elec-
tronic components, systems and applications.
PCB007
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