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72 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2020 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE ment, but over the past few years, it has evolved and become a very important topic. The indus- try is facing revolutionary changes. On the one side, we are going from internal combustion engines to hybrid or fully electrified cars. This is a major change that also impacts electronic assemblies. At the same time, we have connec- tivity, which is becoming very prominent in automotive electronics. Goldman: The car is your computer. Welzel: And lots of connected services have arisen, which means we now have to go use high-speed communications and high-perfor- mance computing cars, which we haven't done in the past because, frankly speaking, the elec- tronic control unit for a combustion engine, in terms of computational power and complex- ity, is not on a very high level. In this context, it's more challenging meeting the reliability requirements and making it smaller at a good price. But in terms of computational power and data transmission, it's not very difficult. Going into higher levels of automated driv- ing with the ultimate challenge of having a driverless car in an urban environment, we are also moving into a regime where we get new types of components, interfaces, and data transmission rates. At the same time, reliabil- ity is paramount. These are the challenges we have to master. To support this evolution, we can develop standards, which will accelerate innovation and help us to harmonize our activ- ities throughout the supply chain. Goldman: Do you have any final thoughts? Welzel: I would like to thank all my peers. I have learned so much during the standardiza- tion meetings from them and other experts who attend the meetings. I would also like to thank IPC for supporting the experts in their endeavor to develop these standards and mak- ing a good environment to foster these interac- tions among the experts. Last but not least, I cannot overemphasize thanking my employer because, in other com- panies, there's not always such a high level of acceptance for jobs or tasks where it is more difficult to calculate the benefits in terms of cost. You can do it, of course, and I'm regularly asked to do that, but it's not always as easy to calculate the financial benefits of standard- ization, such as increased quality, accelerated innovation, and simplified discussions along the supply chain. Also, you need good support in terms of providing data to get something standardized. Bosch is willing to provide data to get standardization tasks accomplished, which is something I really like about the com- pany. Goldman: Part of this award is offering a scholar- ship to the university or college of your choice. Have you chosen? Welzel: I chose the Technical University (TU) in Darmstadt, Germany, as the recipient of the scholarship. Goldman: Again, congratulations, Udo. Welzel: Thank you. S&T Udo Welzel studied physics at the University of Bayreuth (Germany) and obtained a Ph.D. degree in chemistry from the University of Stuttgart (Germany) in 2002. While serv- ing at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart as head of the service laboratory for X-ray dif- fraction until 2012, he started a collaboration program with the Robert Bosch GmbH on lead-free soldering. That was also the year he joined the Automotive Electronics Divi- sion of the Robert Bosch GmbH, where he now serves as a senior expert and leads a team in the Engineering Assem- bly and Interconnect Technology Department responsible for assembly and interconnect technology integration for automotive electronic control units for driving assistance and autonomous driving systems. Welzel is also responsible for standardization activities and contacts with IPC and IEC. At IPC, he acts as co-chair of the 5-21M (cold joining press fit) and 7-31BV (A610/J001 automotive addenda) Task Groups. At IEC, he is the chair of Technical Committee TC91 (electronics assembly technol- ogy). His support and leadership in standardization have been recognized by the IEC 1906 Award in 2014, the IPC Rising Star Award in 2018, and the IPC President's Award in 2019.