Industry Icons Star in Panel Discussions – PCBDesign007

During IPC APEX EXPO 2013 in San Diego, I-Connect007 shot a dozen hard-hitting, long-form panel discussions with a who’s who of the PCB and EMS communities, discussing industry issues that matter most.

Each discussion featured a moderator and several panelists talking about an issue of importance to the PCB industry. Moderators included industry veterans Happy Holden, Jack Fisher, Michael Carano, Sue Mucha, Michael Weinhold, Joe Fjelstad, Steve Williams, Greg Thomas, Dan Beaulieu, and Mike Konrad.

Lisa Lucke, managing editor of The PCB Magazine, organized the forum. “This year, the forum really seemed to take off. Some of the back-and-forth was just fantastic, especially regarding onshoring, China and new marketing techniques,” said Lucke. “You just won’t find content like this anywhere else.”

For years, I-Connect007 has covered the PCB and EMS industries through Real Time with… video interviews with the industry’s top technologists and executives. But while the Real Time interviews usually run less than 10 minutes, these panel discussions can go up to 30 minutes or more.

“I look at the Real Time with… videos as our hit singles,” Lucke explained. “But the I-Connect007 Forums are more like an entire CD. The moderators cover a series of points related to one topic, and it resulted in some very lively discussion.”

Here are links to all 12 panel discussions:

Best Cleaning Practices

Mike Konrad (Aqueous), Eric Camden (Foresite), Barbara “The Cleaning Lady” Kanegsberg (BFK Solutions) and Umut Tosun (Zestron) weigh in on what best cleaning practices entail, how clean is “clean enough,” and just what the cost of cleaning really is.

Marketing in Today’s PCB Climate

PCB industry veterans Judy Warner (Transline Tech), Yash Sutariya (Saturn Flex Systems) and Stuart Hayton (MuTracx) discuss marketing do’s and don’ts, social media and more, with moderator Dan Beaulieu.

Embedded Component Technology

EIPC Technical Director Michael Weinhold, AT&S Group Manager of Technology Johannes Stahr, and Somacis CTO Giacomo Angeloni discuss the state of embedded component technology.

The Impact of Lead-Free on Reliability and Cost

Happy Holden, director of Electronics Technologies and Innovation at GENTEX; Dr. Ron Lasky, Senior Technologist at Indium Corporation; and Ventec USA’s Technical Manager Bruce MacDonald examine the current state of lead-free and what it means for the industry, including mission-critical military electronics.