In 2003, IPC opened a European representative office in order to provide better, more timely service to the industry in Europe. The goal was also to establish a more active ear, to listen to our members and adjust programming to better meet their needs. The IPC European Representative is responsible for working closely with IPC distributors who sell IPC standards throughout Europe.
In 2016, IPC opened a new office in Brussels, Belgium. The office delivers the full suite of IPC products and services, including member support, standards development activities, educational opportunities, and more to all members in Europe.
WHAT'S NEW:
Recent Events
IPC hosted its Hand Soldering World Championship in Munich, Germany, during electronica on 14–15 November 2024, welcoming 14 competitors from 13 companies across 12 countries. Skilled contestants competed to build an electronics assembly in accordance with IPC-A-610 Class 3 criteria. Judging was based on the functionality of the assembly, compliance with the assembly process, and overall product quality. Each contestant was allowed a maximum of 60 minutes to complete their assembly.
Congratulations to the 2024 World Hand Soldering Champion, Zhiheng Zhou, Jiangsu Jinling Mechanism Manufacture Company, China, who achieved an impressive score of 801 out of a possible 816 points. He was awarded a cash prize of €1,000, a certificate from IPC, the 2024 World Title trophy, a new soldering station from JBC Soldering Tools, a WXSmart multi-awarded soldering station from Weller Tools, and a complimentary gift from Almit. Second place was secured by Roshan Dhyani, Barco Electronics Systems (P) Ltd, India, while the third-place trophy went to Stéphanie Devy, Thales, France, the 2024 winner of the Regional Qualification Germany the day before. For the first time ever the podium included champions from China, India and Europe.
2024 Hand Soldering Competition - United Kingdom
The first hand-soldering regional championship of 2024 kicked off at the Southern Manufacturing and Electronics exhibition in Farnborough. In collaboration with Advanced Rework Technology, the local IPC training centre, the competition attracted more than 15 professional competitors from the local industry.
Justyna Mikolajczyk from Zetex was this year’s UK Hand Soldering Champion, winning the title for the fourth year in a row. Adam Fidura from Dyson placed second and Phil Smith from Custom Interconnect received the third place award. The top three winners received cash prizes as well as a complimentary gift from Almit.
Dyson scored a combined 1273 points out of 1472, earning the Best Company Team Award for the regional championship.
IPC WinterCom 2024
IPC Europe hosted its first-ever standards development committee meetings in Barcelona. IPC WinterCom proved to be a success among the European industry leaders attracting close to 300 industry players from PCB, EMS providers, and supplier companies across the global supply chain. The face-to-face sessions and discussions covered diverse topics, ranging from materials, design, and printed board fabrication to cutting-edge fields such as Factory of the Future, e-textiles, and 3D plastronics.
IPC Day EMS Tallinn
IPC Day EMS featured a seminar presented by Dieter Weiss on In4ma’s analysis of the EMS market in Europe with a special angle on performance indicators in the current economic paradigm. The afternoon program also featured success stories from companies such as NOTE and Inission Syd AB, which elaborated on the importance of proximity, cooperation, and partnerships as key to building a resilient and efficient supply chain in Europe.
Hand Soldering World Championship 2023
The 2023 Hand Soldering World Championship saw 19 champions from around the globe, representing 16 countries. We are proud to announce that the title of the 2023 World Hand Soldering Champion was awarded to Yao Tang from Shenyang Railway Signal in China. She was awarded a cash prize of 1,000€, a certificate from IPC, the 2023 world title trophy, a brand new soldering station from JBC Soldering Tools, a brand new WXSmart multi-awarded soldering station from Weller Tools, and a complimentary gift from Almit.
The second place in the world championship was taken by Keiko Hasebe from Advantest in Japan, and the third place trophy was awarded to Jingjing Xu from Shanghai Railway Communication in China.
2023 Hand Soldering Competition - Germany
The 2023 hand-soldering regional championship at productronica attracted 24 professional competitors over three days, representing a total of 18 European companies.
Stephanie Devy from Thales Chalet became the regional champion of Germany, taking home the 1st place award. The second place was claimed by Marie Letheneule from Thales Chalet and the third place prize, by Laure Ripert from Thales SIX GTS Brives.
The Best Company Team award was given to Thales Chalet, who reached the highest combined score in the hand-soldering competition.
IPC Forum at Productronica 2023
IPC Europe debuted a brand new exhibition setup at the 2023 productronica tradeshow, transforming its booth into a lounge and networking space, a keynote forum area, and sufficient space for the IPC Hand Soldering World Championship.
The IPC Forum was the center for provocative industry questions, panel discussions, and updates on IPC topics such as CFX, sustainability, technology solutions, and wire harness manufacturing.
2023 Hand Soldering Competition - Estonia
Hosted by the 2023 Instrutec regional tradeshow in Tallinn, the competition attracted 40 professional competitors, who took on the challenge to compete for the Estonia National Title. The title of the Estonia regional hand soldering champion was taken by Timmo Antso from Scanfil PLC. The second place was claimed by Jana Oebius from GPV and the third place prize, by Gerli Erdfeldt, from GPV. 9 companies nominated a team, qualifying for the Best Company Team award, which was won by GPV Estonia.
IPC Day Aerospace Netherlands
IPC Day Aerospace was focused on an immersive opportunity for the participants to be up to date with IPC’s activities in Europe as well as learn about the European Space Agency’s (ESA) advanced PCB technology directly from the experts.
The event program featured a keynote from NASA’s Bhanu Sood, who presented an insight into the work of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and how NASA’s projects integrate and define risk. Stan Heltzel from ESA gave a broad overview of the space situation in Europe, laying out the roadmap for HDI board fabrication and the lack of suppliers in the EU for its own self-sufficiency.
All participants later attended a guided tour of the Erasmus Innovation Centre, which put the context of realism on human space exploration.
IPC Day Romania: Build Electronics Better with Standards and Solutions
The two-day conference in partnership with FLEX attracted close to 280 participants from the local electronics manufacturing industry and across the neighboring countries. The programme featured renowned guest speakers and industry leaders from companies such as NASA, Stellantis, Bosch, Flex, Indium, TTM Technologies, Viscom, Nokia, IPC, The Polytechnic University, and Vitesco. The keynotes and panel discussions covered a diverse range of topics such as electronics reliability, e-mobility, education and training, standards and simulations, and more.
The IPC Europe team visited FLEX manufacturing facilities and participated in several demonstrations and networking sessions.
IPC Design Day Italy
Francisco Fourcade was present at the IPC Design Day Italy organized by the Universita degli Studi dell'Aquila. The event was focused on networking and knowledge exchange among the local electronics manufacturing experts and included presentations from R3 Technology, Leading Edge, and Cavi Evolution.
Vincenza, Italy Hand Soldering Competition
Buongiorno from Vicenza, Italy, where the first IPC hand soldering competition was held at Focus on PCB. Congratulations to the top three winners: Alessandro Manicone, Elettronica GF, Enrico Zanchetta, Ermes Elettronica, and Giorgio Agnielli, DynamiΣ PRC! Grazie mille to MIT judges from GestLabs IPC training Center, and our spectacular sponsors Weller Tools, JBC Soldering Tools, Thales, Société Française de Microscopie, OPTILIA, Almit GmbH, Ateliers System Mobilier Industriel, Polygone CAO, and NCAB Group.
Nuremberg Hand Soldering Competition
In Nuremberg, Germany, SMT Connect held an intense hand soldering competition. Twenty-eight participants were tasked with assembling complex PCB under the scrutiny of IPC judges. Top prize went to Janett Winckler, from Prettl Electronics. She was closely followed by Pauline Duval and David Gasniea, both of Thales, who placed second and third respectively. Thanks to competition sponsors Weller Tools, JBC Soldering Thales, Societe Française de Microscopie, Optilia, Almit, AteliersSystem, PolygoneCAO, NCAB and our MIT judges from IPC training centers ETECH Trainingen and Trainalytics.
IPC Day Design France
IPC Day Design France was hosted by WeNetwork, where the IPC Design Council France presented results of a 3-year study on the use of IPC standards to create highly reliable PCBs at the design stage.
IPC Day Design France
Organisé par IPC, PC2A et IFTEC, Le troisième IPC Day Design France s’est tenu mercredi dernier 9 septembre 2020 dans les locaux de WeNetwork à Angers. Le IPC Design Council France à présenté les résultats préliminaires de 3 années d‘activité de ses groupes de travail sur l’utilisation des standards IPC pour l’amélioration de la conception de PCB pour plus de qualité et de fiabilité des équipements.