The show goes on
23 March 2009
If you want to feel good about the electronics manufacturing industry then the best place to go is Las Vegas next week for one of the highlights of the industry’s calendar – APEX on 31 March to 2 April.
Organised by the IPC with the backing of many of the leading suppliers, APEX has turned into the self-fulfilling prophecy. While ‘self-fulfilling prophesies’ are usually negative (recessions or badly-behaved children, for example), in this case it has been a positive process. Since its inception APEX has been driven forward by the equipment and materials suppliers with an enthusiasm that is out of step with the more familiar reluctance to trade shows. Having started out as an alternative to the failing Nepcon West, APEX was driven forward by its exhibitors in a way that most exhibition organisers could only dream of – and year on year the show gets bigger, better and has more to offer.
With the organisers, the IPC, bringing so much technical content to the party, APEX has really assumed the combined roles of meeting place, market place and focal point for technology transfer and industry standardisation.
There are a huge number of different attractions, beyond the 450 or so exhibitors who will feature hundreds of new products. On each of the three days there will be a keynote speech. At 8.30am on the opening morning inventor, entrepreneur, author and futurist Ray Kurzweil will deliver his keynote titled: “The Accelerating Future of Electronics and Information”. The following morning, at 8.00am, Walt Custer and Sharon Starr will team up to present the latest data and market trends for the electronics industry. And the closing keynote on 2 April will take place at 2.30pm and will be given by Les Stroud – the ‘Survivorman’ who is the only producer in the history of television to produce an internationally broadcast series entirely written, videotaped and hosted alone.
Elsewhere there are standards development meetings and technical sessions with over 60 full day or half day courses. Other initiatives, like the Lean and Green conference (The hot tickets in Vegas), and the Innovative Technology Center (IPC’s ITC) are covered in this newsletter, but there is much more information on the IPC website if you are still deciding whether or not the trip is worthwhile.
I hope you enjoy this issue of EMTWorldWide and if you make the trip to Las Vegas it is an enjoyable and worthwhile one for you.
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