On behalf of electronics manufacturers in the United States and around the world, IPC thanks the U.S. Congress and the Trump administration for reaching agreement today on a $2 trillion economic stabilization package to address the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The federal government is taking unprecedented measures to help the U.S. economy weather and recover from the current global crisis,” said IPC President and CEO John Mitchell. “The $2 trillion stimulus bill will extend rapid financial relief to the businesses and individuals that need it most.”

The White House and bipartisan leaders in Congress have agreed on legislation that includes the following provisions of interest to the electronics manufacturing industry: 

• Financial Help for Hard-Hit Businesses: The bill includes $500 billion in loans and loan guarantees, including $17 billion for businesses critical to national security, $350 billion to help small businesses; and $50 million for the Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers expand markets.
• Assistance for Health Care: More than $150 billion is included for hospitals, which are among the nation’s largest purchasers of electronic systems.
• Unemployment Insurance: The bill includes $250 billion to expand unemployment insurance and extend coverage to four months. 

As a next step, IPC is urging federal officials to take additional actions to support the electronics manufacturing sector and drive the nation’s economic recovery. Specifically, IPC urges U.S. Government officials to adopt measures in IPC’s Roadmap to Economic Recovery, including: 

• Keeping essential factories open by recognizing electronics manufacturing for defense and healthcare needs as “critical infrastructure”;
• Supporting supply chain resiliency by adopting a $10 billion Electronics Manufacturing Initiative;
• Spurring global trade by suspending import duties on all countries that agree to reciprocal treatment for U.S. exports, and deferring the payment of import duties;
• Delaying non-essential regulatory proceedings;
• Facilitating transportation and shipping recovery;
• Supporting the financial security of manufacturing workers; and
• Keeping manufacturing workers healthy by clarifying workplace health protections for essential facilities.

“Electronics manufacturing is as critical to the economy as the nervous system is to the body,” said Mitchell. “Although our industry’s numbers will be depressed in 2020 and 2021, just like everyone else’s, we believe electronics will be at the center of the recovery, because we’re at the center of the economy.”   

Electronics manufacturing supports more than 5.3 million U.S. jobs and drives more than $714 billion in U.S. GDP. Every single U.S. electronics manufacturing job supports three other jobs in the U.S. national economy, a strong multiplier effect.

For additional information, visit IPC’s COVID-19 (coronavirus) resource page at www.ipc.org/coronavirus.

The 2020 WHMA 27th Annual Wire Harness Conference held in Las Vegas, Nevada on February 18-20, 2020 at the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa was a huge success. With a record-breaking number of 41 exhibitors, more than 60 first-time attendees and nearly 200 total attendees, this was one of WHMA’s best conferences to date.

Another first this year was the technical education workshop held February 18, “The Evolution of IPC’s Cable and Wire Harness Documents: IPC-D-620, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and IPC-HDBK-62” presented by Robert Cooke, NASA Johnson Space center.  Twenty-five attendees learned about IPC’s cable and harness assembly documents, how they are used and plans for revisions.

Space fans were awed by keynote speaker B, Gentry Lee’s presentation, “A Passion for Space Exploration.” He captivated his audience by highlighting his exploration career and discussing his role of wires and harnesses with spacecrafts. His responsibilities included engineering integrity of all robotic planetary missions managed by JPL for NASA, Lee provided engineering oversight for the Curiosity rover mission to Mars in 2012, the Dawn mission to the asteroids Vesta and Ceres, the Juno mission to Jupiter and the GRAIL missions to the Moon.

Additional presentations included:

• “Wire Harness Industry Economics – Managing in an Uncertain Economy” presented by Taylor St. Germain, ITR Economics
• “Space Challenges from Wire Harness” presented by Bob Cooke, Johnson Space Center
• “Megatrends of CASE (Connected, Autonomous, Shared and Electrification)” presented by Jim Hawersaat, TTI, Inc.
• “Micro Trends and Mega Changes” presented by Shawn Dubravac, IPC
• “Electric Mobility will Change your Business,” presented by Benoit Dagenais, Innovative Vehicle Institute

Roundtable topics included using the IPC/WHMA-A-620 standard as a marketing tool, growth strategies, wire harness industry economics, low pressure molding, and high-performance teams and trends in direct labor affecting wire harness operations in Mexico.

“This year’s event was very successful thanks to WHMA/IPC staff, our stellar lineup of presenters, and event sponsors and exhibitors,” said Rick Bromm, WHMA chair and president of ALTEX. “We’re already planning for the 2021 conference which will take place February 18-21 at the Westin La Paloma Resort & Spa in Tucson, Arizona.”  

IPC announces the release of IPC J-STD-001GA/IPC-A-610GA, Automotive Addendum to IPC J-STD-001G Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies and IPC-A-610G Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies. The addendum is a first-of-a-kind document that requires the use of both J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 along with requirements in the addendum, as it looks at the whole of the electronics assembly manufacturing process from assembly to inspection addressing board reliability requirements for the automotive industry.

Committee members representing 17 countries worked diligently over two and half years on the addendum to address criteria and acceptability requirements for printed board assemblies for the automotive industry not covered in IPC-A610G and IPC J-STD-001G. The committee was guided by the principle of providing criteria to be used in addition to, and in some cases, in place of, those in the base documents to ensure the reliability of soldered electrical and electronic assemblies that must survive the automotive environment.

IPC would like to thank the many committee members for their participation in developing standards and addendums for the electronics industry to help build electronics better.

For more information or to purchase the new automotive addendum to J-STD-001G and IPC-A-610G, visit https://shop.ipc.org

Electronics manufacturers continue to feel the impact of the coronavirus on their businesses. Companies experiencing supply disruptions report they expect five-week shipment delays on average. But a majority of electronics manufacturers and suppliers expect business operations to be “back to normal” by July 2020, and collectively 75 percent of all respondents expect business to be back to normal by October 2020, according to a new IPC survey on the impacts of coronavirus disruptions.

“Although manufacturers and suppliers continue to be hampered by the impacts of the coronavirus, most companies do not intend to make major cuts in capital expenditures which suggests companies anticipate demand returning,” said John Mitchell, IPC president and CEO. “The delays will certainly impact sales for segments of electronics manufacturing, with consumer electronics likely to be the most impacted sector, followed by industrial and automotive.”

Additionally, most respondents expect sales to decline in the first and second quarters of 2020 and for the entire 2020 calendar year as a whole. Roughly 56 percent of respondents expect sales to fall in the first quarter, 63 percent expect sales to decline in the second quarter, and 62 percent expect sales to be down for the calendar year 2020.     
Other key findings:

• Nearly 40 percent of respondents report they are feeling worse about the impact of COVID-19 on their businesses than they were last month.
• Roughly 69 percent of respondents report being told by their suppliers that there will be delays in shipments due to COVID-19, and some delays are growing.
• Most respondents report they are identifying alternative sources of inputs (55 percent) and cutting back business travel (54 percent). Nearly 30 percent of firms are encouraging teleworking where possible.
• Roughly 26 percent of respondents expect to cut capital expenditures in 2020, while 63 percent report capital investment will remain the same.   

IPC surveyed its members – industry professionals at electronics manufacturing companies, including original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), electronics manufacturing services (EMS) companies, and printed circuit board (PCB) fabricators.— for a second time between March 3 and 5, 2020 following an initial February survey. Almost half of the survey respondents represent the contract electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry. This segment performs an estimated 25 percent of North American electronics manufacturing for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs).  

IPC's Validation Services Program has awarded an IPC/WHMA-A-620 Qualified Manufacturers Listing (QML) to Precisionworks/Condunet, a manufacturer of electric harnesses for vehicles and other equipment, located in Leon, Guanajuato, Mexico. The company successfully completed an intensive audit to IPC/WHMA-A-620, Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies.

Precisionworks/Condunet met or exceeded the electronics industry's Class 2 testing requirements, which is intended for dedicated service electronics products. As a result, the company is now listed as an IPC trusted source capable of manufacturing in accordance with industry best practices. Precisionworks/Condunet and other trusted sources of supply can be found on IPC's QML database at www.ipcvalidation.org.

Robert Smith, CEO of Precisionworks/Condunet sad, “QML means Precisionworks is focusing on being a quality harness market leader. With employees achieving IPC/WHMA-A-620 certifications and our facility receiving the QML validates our team’s hard work.”

IPC's Validation Services QPL/QML Program was developed to promote supply chain verification. It also provides auditing and certification of electronics companies' products and identifies processes which conform to IPC standards.

“Different from other audit programs, IPC's Validation Services Programs uniquely provide technical and in-depth assessments of products and processes in accordance with IPC standards,” said Randy Cherry, IPC director of Validation Services. “We are pleased to especially recognize the QML for Precisionworks/Condunet for becoming a member of IPC's network of trusted QML suppliers.”

For more information about IPC's Validation Services QPL/QML Program, visit www.ipcvalidation.org or contact Randy Cherry at RandyCherry@ipc.org or +1 847-597-2806.  

IPC's Validation Services Program has awarded an IPC J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 Qualified Manufacturers Listing (QML) to Fabrication Technologies Inc./IGM Solutions (FabTech-IGM) located in Libertyville, Ill. FabTech-IGM is a leader in contract manufacturing, engineering, fabrication and integration of electronic and metal products. Following the top down approach, a customer encouraged the company to seek the IPC certification to assist with their internal continuous improvement projects. FabTech-IGM successfully completed an intensive audit, based on two of IPC's foremost standards: IPC J-STD-001, Requirements for Soldered Electrical and Electronic Assemblies and IPC-A-610, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies.

For many years, FabTech-IGM utilized both IPC J-STD-001 and IPC-A-610 for specification of materials, processes and requirements. Moving forward with the QML certification allowed the company to tighten up their processes and products. Their quality management system was reviewed and updated accordingly to ensure traceability from relevant operational procedures to requirements in J-STD-001.

FabTech-IGM met or exceeded the requirements for the electronics industry's rigorous classification, Class 2, which is intended for dedicated service electronics products. As a result, the company maintains their listing as an IPC-trusted source capable of manufacturing in accordance with industry best practices. Fabrication Technologies / IGM Solutions, Inc. and other trusted sources of supply can be found on IPC's QML/QPL (Qualified Product Listing) database at www.ipcvalidation.org.

Paul Kelly, president of FabTech-IGM said, “The IPC QML assessment provided a thorough validation that all the processes performed throughout our operation meet or exceed recognized industry standards. Those industry standards help us internally to form a common understanding of quality requirements with our customers and suppliers. The IPC QML assessment has helped us achieve the value our customers have come to expect from FabTech-IGM.”

IPC's Validation Services QPL/QML Program was developed to promote supply chain verification. It also provides auditing and certification of electronics companies' products and identifies processes which conform to IPC standards.

“Different from other audit programs, IPC's Validation Services Programs uniquely provide technical and in-depth assessments of products and processes in accordance with IPC standards,” said Randy Cherry, IPC director of Validation Services. “We are pleased to especially recognize the QML for Fabrication Technologies / IGM Solutions, Inc. for becoming a member of IPC's network of trusted QML suppliers.”

For more information about IPC's Validation Services QPL/QML Program, visit www.ipcvalidation.org or contact Randy Cherry at RandyCherry@ipc.org or +1 847-597-2806.       

IPC announces the release of five newly revised standards covering several areas of the supply chain, IPC/WHMA-A-620D, Requirements and Acceptance for Cable and Wire Harness Assemblies; IPC-2223E, Sectional Design Standard for Flexible/Rigid-Flexible Printed Boards; IPC-2591-Version 1.1, Connected Factory Exchange (CFX); IPC-1791A, Trusted Electronic Designer, Fabricator and Assembler Requirements; and IPC- 6012E, Qualification and Performance Specification for Rigid Printed Boards.

For printed boards, IPC-2223E will provide designers of flexible/rigid-flexible designs with updated figures, new sections and comments on microvia stacking, back drilled holes and dual row zero insertion force (ZIF) connectors.

IPC-6102E provides new acceptance criteria for back drilled holes, discussion on reliability issues for microvia structures in Class 3 products, and establishes new requirements for copper wrap plating of holes in new designs.

For those involved with wire harness requirements and acceptance IPC/WHMA-A-620D provides some new acceptability criteria, figures and graphics on target conditions, solderless wrap section revisions, and a new section  added on over-molding of flexible flat ribbon.

The connected factory exchange (CFX) standard, IPC-2591 V1.1 provides changes made to message sections and message structure sections. Appendix A was added with a short description of all changes from V1.0 and Appendix B provides acronyms and abbreviations.

IPC-1791A provides a new Appendix D covering requirements for trust certification of non-U.S. electronic design, fabrication and assembly organizations. Several sections have been updated and added to 1 scope and 3.0 requirements.

IPC would like to thank the many committee members for their participation in developing standards for the electronics industry to help build electronics better.

For more information or to purchase these new releases, visit https://shop.ipc.org       

IPC's Validation Services Program has awarded and renewed an IPC-4101 Qualified Products Listing (QPL) to Taiwan Union Technology Corporation (TUC). TUC is an electronics materials manufacturing company headquartered in Jhubei, Hsinchu County, Taiwan. TUC was the first manufacturer worldwide to gain QPL listing for copper-clad laminates and prepregs in February 2017. TUC successfully renewed and completed an intensive second audit based on IPC's foremost standard on base materials for laminates and prepregs: IPC 4101, Specification for Base Materials for Rigid and Multilayer Printed Boards.

"TUC was proud to be the first base-materials manufacturer worldwide to be QPL certified for IPC-4101 specification sheets 102, 126 and 130 three years ago,” said George Hsin, chief strategy officer at TUC. “Over the last three years, being on the QPL meant that TUC has met the highest standards for production and quality, similar to that of the old military QPL of MIL-S-13949. PWB suppliers made this QPL their first screen to selecting their base materials. The facilities and the products on the QPL were trusted by the entire electronics supply chain. At TUC we were happy to see the QPL concept brought back by IPC to their base materials standard IPC-4101.”  

IPC's Validations Services QPL/QML Program was developed to promote supply chain verification. It also provides auditing and certification of electronics companies' products and identifies processes which conform to IPC standards. "TUC has differentiated itself from the competition by becoming part of IPC's global network of trusted industry sources," said Randy Cherry, IPC director of Validation Services. "We are pleased to recognize TUC as the first member of trusted QPL suppliers to be recertified to meet IPC-4101."

For more information about IPC's Validation Services QPL/QML Program, visit www.ipcvalidation.org or contact Randy Cherry at RandyCherry@ipc.org or +1 847-597-2806.       

IPC invites engineers, researchers, academics, technical experts and industry leaders to submit technical conference abstracts and course proposals for IPC APEX EXPO 2021 to be held at the San Diego Convention Center. Professional development courses will be held January 23-28, and the technical conference will take place January 26-28, 2021.

The industry’s premier conference and exhibition for the electronics industry, IPC APEX EXPO provides presenters and their companies with a notable and cost-effective opportunity to promote their expertise and gain visibility with key engineers, managers and executives from all segments of the industry worldwide. To recognize exceptional achievement, awards will be presented for “Best Paper.”

Topics for Technical Conference Papers and Professional Development Courses:

An approximate 300-word technical conference abstract summarizing original and previously unpublished work covering case histories, research and discoveries must be submitted. The submission should describe significant results from experiments and case studies, emphasize new techniques, discuss trends of interest and contain appropriate technical test results.

In addition, course proposals are solicited from individuals interested in presenting half-day (three-hour) professional development courses on design, manufacturing processes and materials.

Technical conference paper abstracts are due June 20, 2020 and course proposals are due June 8, 2020. To submit an abstract or course proposal, visit www.ipcapexexpo.org/education/call-for-participation.

For more information on technical conference or professional development course participation, contact Brook Sandy-Smith, IPC technical education program manager at BrookSandy@ipc.org.