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By John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO As many of you know, our big news this month is that IPC APEX EXPO will be held virtually March 8-12, 2021. We look forward to producing APEX EXPO every year, and 2021 will be no different. It is our signature event, and we are committed to providing the cutting-edge content and networking opportunities that attendees have come to expect over the past 20 years. We will just do it from a digital platform. Be it in person or via an online platform, our goal is to maintain IPC APEX EXPO’s position as the premier event for the electronics industry, providing far-reaching insights and ideas. The challenge we face to provide a premier networking event is also an opportunity for growth. While we pride ourselves on the networking experience our in-person event provides to our attendees, we believe that the virtual setting allows can achieve that same goal, to offer connections, new knowledge, and important opportunities to our audience. Because companies will not have to pay for employee travel, we hope to increase our global audience by going deeper into organizations, offering our cutting-edge content to more people. This gives us the unique opportunity to meet and connect with a broader audience while increasing our reach in the industry. APEX EXPO will still be the place to connect and collaborate as the digital platform will allow attendees to easily navigate more than 100 technical conference sessions and application-focused professional development courses as well as view product demonstrations, schedule one-on-one meetings with exhibitors and experience other offerings within the online exhibition. I hope that you’ll join us March 8-12 for what promises to be an exciting virtual event. As 2020 ends, we are reflecting on the many activities that IPC pursued in this unique year. While all of us experienced the pandemic in different ways, one of our committee members worked diligently on the development and revision of IPC standards J-STD-001H and IPC-A-610H while in lockdown in Spain. Francisco Fourcade explains how working on the standards helped him focus on something besides COVID-19 in this article. IPC welcomed a new Executive Director, Gaurab Majumdar, to our IPC India offices. In this article, Gaurab provides insight into his plans for continued growth of the industry in India. We have long focused on providing solutions to the skills gap in the manufacturing industry by workforce training programs to meet the needs of employees. David Hernandez and Carlos Plaza recently explained how the IPC Electronics Workforce Training initiative provides educational programs that teach knowledge and skills to perform specific job functions. Their article can be found here. As we celebrate the holiday season and the coming of a new year, I wish you and your family health, happiness, and peace. Please feel free to reach out to me with any questions or concerns.
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