Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1212069
70 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2020 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE Welzel: Right, and how they can profit from each other. That is why in the very beginning, it was a task I got, but now, it's among my favorite tasks. Goldman: Tell me about your relationship with Dieter. Welzel: I met him at the IEC meetings, where he was the chair of Technical Commit- tee 91, and of which I am the chair now. As you mentioned earlier, I'm also involved in IEC, and I'm very focused on harmoniza- tion between different organizations as well as getting the best of the different organiza- tions because you don't have the same level of expertise among experts in all fields now. Some organizations are very strong in one field, while others are strong in other fields, and you have to make the best out of it. It's not a competition; instead, it's about making documents that are complementary and har- monized. This was very much at the heart of Dieter Bergman too. I remember when he organized a meeting in Richardson, Texas, where we met for an IEC meeting, and after that, we went together to an IPC meeting. I learned a lot from him, and it always surprised me that despite his con- siderable age at that time, he was very much fluent with modern technology. Laptops were no problem for him at all. You noticed that all his involvement in these activities kept him engaged and up to date with the many ongo- ing developments. Goldman: I've never seen anyone embrace things as he did. He embraced everything. Let's talk about what you see. Are you work- ing on another revision? I know you said it wasn't perfect, and usually, as soon as some- thing comes out, everybody starts to work on the next version. How's that going? Welzel: That's the story and what I learned from Jan Pedersen [Elmatica]. He was a pio- neer regarding the automotive addenda and made an auto- motive addendum to the 6012; also, his credo was to put out the first version quickly so that people have something to work with and to improve. In principle, the first version didn't necessarily have to be 100% perfect. It's better to get out the first version and then start working on the second revision immediately. That's the spirit we followed with the automotive addendum for A-610 and 001. We created these from scratch. You have the base documents, of course, but the addenda did not exist before. I always say that it's a matter of entropy. There needs to be some hours put into fixing the document. The first version is never perfect. You can't avoid it. You don't get a document after one revision with the maturity level of the A-610 or J-STD-001 documents, which have evolved over decades. Goldman: A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into those, which is well-known. Welzel: Sometimes, with these base docu- ments, we spend an hour discussing only one sentence in the committee meetings. Goldman: It has to be right, and the meaning clear. Welzel: And if you work at the same pace and create a document from scratch, you would never get to a finished document. You have to make some compromises in the beginning, but then the document can become more mature with the next revisions. Goldman: Things are changing fast in our indus- try, so I'm sure if your task group is working on a revision, you're going to get that out and start right away on another one. Welzel: Exactly. For quite some time, automo- tive was not so strong in standards develop-