Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1088168
46 SMT007 MAGAZINE I MARCH 2019 Interview by Nolan Johnson I-CONNECT007 According to their website, the Wireless Pow- er Consortium (WPC) was established in 2008 as an open and collaborative standards devel- opment group comprised of more than 600+ company members around the globe. WPC's members are both large and small competi- tors and ecosystem partners including Apple, ASUS, Belkin, Bosch, Canon, ConvenientPow- er, Dell, Google, Haier, Huawei, IKEA, Lenovo, LG, MediaTek, mophie, NXP, Panasonic, Royal Philips, Samsung, Sony, TDK, Verizon Wireless and Xiaomi. All of these companies collaborate to design and evolve the world's most useful, safe, and efficient standards for wireless pow- er. Phoebe Francis, a WPC representative who works as a senior manager in the Dallas offic- es for Golin, a PR firm, gave me the rundown on WPC and what it means for printed circuit manufacturing. Nolan Johnson: I'm here with Phoebe Francis with the Wireless Power Consortium at CES 2019. Phoebe Francis: Yes, I work with the marketing team for the WPC. At Golin, we han- dle all of the promotional activities for WPC and many of the members. Golin is al- so a member of the consor- tium. We provide marketing and PR services, and we've been with the consortium almost since the beginning. Johnson: My readers in electronics design, manufacturing, and assembly are certainly looking at wireless power solutions for their applications all the time. Where does the WPC fit for them? Francis: WPC is a group of 650 different com- panies that all work together on an open stan- dard for wireless power for cellphones, kitch- en appliances, laptops, portable drills, etc. We have a variety of different standards that we work on, and members interested in adding wireless power feature sets to products can have their products certified by us as being Wireless Power Consortium Helps Bring Standardized Cordless Power Solutions to the World Phoebe Francis