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78 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2023 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE an MIT-engineer turned Emmy-nominated science TV host, was discussed throughout the show. It seemed to build excitement toward that ultimate experience of space travel, whilst also promoting the roles of women and younger people in the industry. This is exactly the encouragement needed to drive interest for fresh, diverse, engineering minds to enter the industry. With this backdrop of enthusiasm, the IPC Technical Conference drew its highest atten- dance in 10 years, as there was plenty of inno- vation and technology development to catch up on. The emergence of Smart software solu- tions that complement sophisticated, flexible hardware automation dominated many con- versations, as businesses seek to do more with existing resources. Among the many discus- sion I heard about embedding manufacturing know-how within machine and software solu- tions; elevating the roles of operators and engineers away from robotic, repetitive tasks; and fostering opportunities that allow greater personal contributions. These were led by provocative roundtable discussions and media interviews with key industry thought- leaders. One person commented that they found IPC APEX EXPO almost overwhelming, seeing how far the industry has evolved since their last show visit, and that they were keen on catching up. IPC APEX EXPO's promotion of the principles behind standards development, the space it offers to balance thought leadership, the way it encourages professionals to share ideas for the benefit of the whole industry, and its ded- ication to showcasing compelling new prod- uct offerings all make IPC APEX EXPO a unique show. There are hidden gems to discover at every turn. One such gem was the demonstra- tion of the Raspberry Pi-based IPC-CFX Leg- acy Box, which provides open-source hard- ware and software that enables cost-effective connections for legacy machines to become part of the Smart factory. This year's show demonstrated that things have turned finally around in the industry, encouraging a justifiably positive look ahead to the future. With such a promising start to the year, IPC APEX EXPO 2024 in Anaheim, California, might give us even more reasons to celebrate. S&T Michael Ford is a regular columnist for I-Connect007. To read past columns, click here. Stephanie Austin Nolan Johnson visits with Stephanie Austin of Zentech during Monday's EMS Leadership Summit. Stephanie, we're talking at the EMS Leader- ship Summit. What is the value of this pro- gram to you and your company? It's just a lot of sharing of valuable informa- tion. For example, we're IPC 1791 certified, but I didn't realize a lot of other companies aren't. Now we're able to share the significance and importance of that. I really enjoy hearing from everybody about the economy, about the supply chain outlook. It's important to col- laborate because we can all be more success- ful together than we can in opposition, even though, obviously, we're competitors.