Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1212069
REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2020 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE I I-CONNECT007 123 Herrmann: We definitely expected it to be better than last year, but we weren't sure coming into this year with the coronavirus going around; it changed the dynamic at the event. However, it was still a great showing, and we still had a lot of traffic, especially with our automotive solu- tions for SMT. Every day was busy, and people were very interested. _______________________ Sheryl Long Rogers Corporation, Global Marketing ommunications Manager Nolan Johnson: What have your impressions been of IPC APEX EXPO 2020? Sheryl Long: It's a great place to see our cus- tomers and other friendly faces. The traffic has been a little slow this year, but it's a great place to meet everybody at one spot and to get together and talk about what's going on in the industry. Johnson: What seems to be the attitude of the people attending? Long: The coronavirus situation has put a lot of people at risk and is affecting some business, but everyone's attitude is good and upbeat. The economy is doing well. Johnson: What are some of the challenges that IPC APEX EXPO may be facing? Long: Competition from other trade shows, such as DesignCon. Having competing shows in future years will be tough. Especially for companies that aren't big enough to send peo- ple to both of them, they will have to pick and choose which ones they want to be at. And a lot of times, people like to be where the design- ers are. _______________________ Victor Mendez Sigmatron International, Test Engineer Andy Shaughnessy: Tell me a little bit about your background. Victor Mendez: My company is from Tijuana, and we do electronics sales services. Shaughnessy: What's your impression of the show so far? Mendez: I've seen a lot of new technology that could solve a lot of problems regarding hand- ling and manual soldering. We have a lot of features with parts that are sometimes wrong when the operators load the incorrect part number. We have seen some equipment that scans the barcodes and part numbers to ensure that it is the correct one, as well as make meas- urements before mounting the components onto the board. We have systems to prevent those kinds of issues, but with this technology, it would be a lot easier, and we could do a lot more production in less time. _______________________ Mike Montesi On Site Gas Systems, Sales Manager A n d y S h a u g h n e s s y : What are some of the biggest challenges that your customers are facing right now? Mike Montesi: One of the biggest challenges for me selling is educating customers that they can generate oxygen and nitrogen on their own for up to 90% savings versus getting trucked in deliveries. It's all about education because 98–99% of customers are used to the high cost of delivered gases, where we can separate it on-site with their own equipment, and the payback is typically under a year.