Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1494346
MARCH 2023 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 53 This year's design was a tough one; no one was able to finish the design completely, so judges graded them on what they did complete, and what kind of decisions they made during the competition. In the end, Sathishkumar Vijayakumar took home first-place bragging rights. Vijayakumar, a senior design engineer with Tessolve India, nar- rowly edged out Adam Thorvaldson, CID, lead PCB designer with Innovex Design Service. Let's all congratulate Sathishkumar Vijaya- kumar and the rest of the design competitors for sticking it out over this months-long competi- tion. I n t h i s s p e c i a l section, you'll read interviews from the top two winners, as well as an interview with Kris Moyer, who designed the compe- tition. We also talked t o a P r o f e s s i o n a l Development course instructor and one of his students. IPC APEX EXPO: A Focus on PCB Design by Andy Shaughnessy IPC APEX EXPO 2023 featured more PCB design content than I can recall in prior years, and I've been going to this show for a long time. PCB design and design-related issues were the focus of a variety of com- mittee meetings and confer- ence classes—not just design classes, but ses- sions that cover manufacturing challenges and process optimization. I didn't have to walk far to find a designer or design engineer. Even the classes that focused on process optimization covered some aspect of PCB design. I spoke with process engineers who now spend much of their day working with their design teams to head off potential DFM and DFA problems early in the design cycle before they become budget-busting missteps. Likewise, designers are learning how to best optimize their processes for DFM and DFA. Hearing designers and manufacturers talking to each other was refreshing; is this the start of a new trend? One of the most exciting events was the sec- ond annual IPC Design Competition, with five finalists from around the globe battling it out for four hours. Three contestants worked remotely and two competed live at the San Diego show. Out of the original 49 contestants who began the preliminary heat last fall, these five finalists truly represented the cream of the crop. MARCH 2023 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 53 Sathishkumar Vijayakumar: IPC Design Competition Winner