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January 2015 • The PCB Design Magazine 9 the front-end engineering teams who attend. This show had solid attendance even during the recession; it's not bulletproof, but close to it. Then, during the week of February 22–26, it's off to San Diego for IPC APEX EXPO and the Design Forum. (And three cheers for IPC mov- ing APEX back to "America's Finest City." It's hard to have a bad day in San Diego.) Appropriately, the Design Forum kicks off the week, with a keynote by Carl Schattke, a PCB design engineer with Tesla Motors. How many PCBs can you find in a Tesla? I know that a lot of peo- ple at APEX will be thinking about Dieter Bergman. This will be the first APEX since his death, and Dieter always opened the Design Forum. It will be bittersweet for many APEX attendees, especially those who worked with him on standards and education for decades. I'm sure attend- ees will be sharing their favorite Dieter stories, and probably some of his hysterical off-color jokes. We'll miss in- terviewing him, too; Dieter was always great in front of the camera. Next, it looks like I'll be going to China for CPCA March 17–19. I went to China nine years ago for CPCA, and wound up running into Bar- ry Matties and Steve Gold on opening day, back when the three of us worked at three rival publica- tions. Barry had a video camera set up, and Steve and I asked, "What's with the camera, dude?" A lot has changed in China since 2006. But one thing hasn't changed: China still hasn't em- braced PCB design. OEMs still send design work to China, but for the most part, they haven't found many designers who can come close to rivaling the designers in the U.S., and the West in general. But China has identified PCB design as the one piece of the puzzle they're lacking, and they're working hard to fix that. Don't count them out. Then, I'll be covering SMTA Atlanta on April 15. It's a great little tabletop show, which draws exhibitors from all over the East Coast. I par- ticularly enjoy the PCB Designers' Roundtable, which is moderated by UPMG's Pete Waddell. We always get a lot of good information (and the occasional horror stories) from the mem- bers of the Atlanta design community. Maybe we can play some guitar after- ward, and get Matt Kehoe of SIPLACE to play harmonica and spoons. And, of course, we'll be providing Real Time with… video coverage of industry events for the rest of the year. Stay tuned! A Shameless Plug Clyde Coombs and Hap- py Holden are editing the 7th edition of The Printed Circuit Handbook, and they were kind enough to ask me to contribute a chapter on PCB design tools. This book is considered the Bible of the industry, and I'm just lucky to be part of it. The other design contributors are Lee Ritchey, Susie Webb, and Bill Hargis, so I'm in good company. I've been an editor for so long that I had almost forgotten what it was like "on the other side of the desk," so to speak. I've edited many of Happy's articles over the years, but I spent most of last fall working for him! The Printed Circuit Handbook is a huge book, with all new content; I can only imag- ine the logistics behind putting it all together. It will be published later this year by McGraw- Hill. So, have a happy and prosperous new year, and have fun at DesignCon. PCBDESIgN Andy Shaughnessy is manag- ing editor of The PCB Design Magazine. he has been cover- ing PCB design for 15 years. he can be reached by clicking here. the shaughnessy report HAPPY NEW YEAR: NOW, BACK TO WORK continues a lot has changed in China since 2006. But one thing hasn't changed: China still hasn't embraced PCB design. oeMs still send design work to China, but for the most part, they haven't found many designers who can come close to rivaling the designers in the u.s., and the West in general. " "