Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1520492
106 I-CONNECT007 I REAL TIME WITH... IPC APEX EXPO 2024 SHOW & TELL MAGAZINE of the I-Connect007 booth, pulling out our guitars and playing some songs while attend- ees roamed the floor, stopping by to listen, or waiting in line for refreshments during a show floor reception. By the middle of the week, I received a wel- come twist to my show coverage routine when I was joined on the show floor by the executive VP of engineering of the EMS company where I design PCBs. Chad Orebaugh had flown in the night before and was already badged up when I met him at the exhibition hall entrance. Months earlier, Chad had asked me, "What is the most comprehensive design and manufacturing show you attend?" It was IPC APEX EXPO, of course. I had a hunch that after all these years, Chad was ready to see how our EMS business might gain some new customers here. As I greeted him, the first words out of his mouth were, in essence, "Okay, Kelly, impress me." He wanted to be "wowed." He wanted to go home with a new cus- tomer. Just 20 minutes later, we were sitting at the Design Community Town Hall. I wanted Chad to see first-hand how PCB designers and indus- try stakeholders are organizing within a "Solutions" group led by Matt Kelly, IPC CTO and VP of technology solutions. During the event, we heard from Peter Tranitz, senior director of the solu- tions group in Europe, about taking on evolving challenges in the areas of design, advanced packaging, CFX, communities, and e-mobility by front-load- ing the PCB creation workflow with new and updated PCB design specifications. Peter used presentation slides to guide us through the 2023 highlights and 2024 priorities for each solutions sector. Most topics were cen- tered on go-to IPC design and manufactur- ing standards, which are either up-to-date, under major revision, or new and under con- struction. Toward the end, Peter invited the audience to consider joining an IPC commit- tee as an active contributor. Susan Kayesar, a product manager for PCB- flow at Siemens, led a panel presentation with PCB design industry panelists who focused on some soon-to-be-published Jamming to our favorite tunes has been a show tradition.