Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1083315
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2019 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 131 ment and MRO products, supplies, cleanrooms, etc. The most interesting thing I've seen is the beautiful displays with everybody's products and brands, which are very well represented. I've worked with a lot of the companies here including JBC, Weller, Yamaha, Juki, and Key- sight Technologies, which is one of our biggest lines. Greg Papandrew Sales director, Millennium Circuits Limited It has been constantly busy the past two days. There's a lot of traffic, and the whole attitude has been very posi- tive, especially on the EMS side who buy circuit boards from me. I've seen friends from the industry, and the weather here today compared to everywhere else in the country is much better. I also think IPC is getting better. I see a lot more international representation here as well, whether it's from South America or across the ocean. Of course, every customer talks about trade tariffs and things. There is some misinforma- tion out there such as thinking, "China has tar- iffs but Taiwan doesn't," but it doesn't mean it's necessarily cheaper. A lot of customers like total cost of acquisition, but they don't consider that you might have a better price in China, and yes there's a tariff, but together, it's still less than maybe Taiwan. Some people will say, "I don't like to see tariffs," but what's your bottom-line price. Steve Redington Senior engineer, U.S. Army Fuze Development Center I've seen a lot of interest- ing stuff. We came here try- ing to get information on equipment, so that has been very helpful for us to have the opportunity to see what's out there and what competi- tor's products are. We were specifically inter- ested in solder paste inspection, AOI, and ink- jet printing. Solder paste printing stood out the most to me because it could solve a lot of future problems for us. We've been trying to avoid it, but with the way technology is going, I think solder paste printing is going to start to pick up and become a lot more mainstream. Bharat Sutaria Vice president, SVTRONICS Inc. I've attended IPC APEX EXPO for the last 10 years. We're a contract manufacturer and have lot of SMT equip - ment including MYDATA. Last year, we spent about $2.5 mil- lion on purchasing MYDATA, Heller, and Seika machines. A BGA rework machine is on our wish list this year. But I think the attendance was lower than last year. S&T • 9,796 in total event attendance (includes attendees and exhibitor personnel) • 5,292 attendees from 56 countries • 440 exhibitors on 150,400 net square feet of exhibit space • 2 full CFX demo lines • 6 buzz sessions • 30 professional development courses • 21 poster presentations • 74 technical papers • 102 committee meetings • 2,155,280 (over 2.1 million) pounds of equipment on the show floor IPC APEX EXPO 2019 by the Numbers