IPC Hand Soldering Regional Qualification Competition Winner Crowned at SMT Hybrid Packaging 2018

The competition was fierce as 27 competitors went soldering iron to soldering iron in IPC’s Hand Soldering Regional Qualification Competition at SMT Hybrid Packaging 2018 in Nuremberg, Germany. Of the 27 boards submitted by the competitors only four of the electronic assemblies were functional. Taking first place and a cash prize of €300 was Catherine Cardinal-Simoan, Thales International, who earned 422 points out of a possible 445.

Taking second place and a cash prize of €200 this year was Alexander Akpatrov, from Russia with 407 points. Eliane Chesnais, Thales International, took third place and a cash prize of €100. Elaine is not new to the IPC Hand Soldering Competition at SMT Hybrid Packaging Exhibition as she was the first-place winner in 2017. Taking fourth place this year was Ekatarina Stahlmann, Grundig Business Systems. Ekatarina was the first-place winner in 2015 and 2016.          

Participants in the hand soldering competition were tasked with building a newly designed functional electronics assembly this year, within a 60-minute time limit. Master Instructor Trainers Rob and Stefan Walls, PIEK, served as independent judges and evaluated each assembly based on workmanship, overall functionality, compliance with IPC-A-610G Class 3 criteria and speed to complete the PCB.

“The best-of-the-best hand soldering talent in Europe came to compete at this event,” said David Bergman, IPC vice president of international relations. “The competition was tough, but each competitor rose to the challenge to build a functional board within the allocated time limit. We look forward to hosting more hand soldering competition across the globe.”

Bergman added, “IPC would like to thank hand soldering competition gold sponsors: JBC Tools and Weller; silver sponsors: Almit, Balver Zinn, and NCAB Group; bronze sponsor: PIEK and MicroCare; contest contributor: Mircosolder, for their support.”

IPC is planning to hold additional hand soldering competitions in Europe. Watch for announcements from IPC with locations and times. For more information on IPC events visit, www.ipc.org/events.