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Nolan’s Notes: Your Golden Ticket

Welcome to the IPC APEX EXPO 2025 preview edition. If you’re going to Anaheim for this event, consider this issue of SMT007 Magazine to be part of your planning for the show—your golden ticket, if you will. If you’re not making the trip, perhaps this content can help you make the case for why you should.

One of my favorite parts of the show is capturing live on-the-floor interviews with industry professionals for our “Real Time with…” site in our booth, where we set up open-air video recording studios and capture interviews during the week. Our crack production staff edits and posts the videos, typically within 30 minutes. I always look forward to connecting with industry experts and leaders during these sessions. It’s a personal highlight of attending IPC APEX EXPO. Look for us on the show floor and watch how the video magic is made. While you’re there, say hello. Share your questions, concerns, and news. Talk with Barb Hockaday and Tobey Marsicovetere about how to maximize I-Connect007’s programs to respond to market shifts. 

Another key event is the EMS Leadership Summit on Monday, March 17. This daylong event requires a separate registration, but it is very much worth it. Expect to hear everything from global-level economic and strategic updates to practical tips for optimizing your EMS operations. In fact, I encourage you to review our interview with Chaim Lubin and Jack Calderon of Lincoln International, who previewed the EMS summit. Click here to register.

At the core of the show is standards development. I’ve noticed a shift underway in this work. For a long time, standards were somewhat backward facing. Product consistency across the industry came from standardizing what the industry knew could be done. Increasingly, however, standards work is turning to the future—to what might be done. CFX and sustainability are just two examples of this new approach to having standards at the ready when the industry arrives at that point.  

We’re once again facing a disequilibrium in the global market that looks to be on a scale similar to (but this time for geopolitical reasons) the effects of the pandemic. Nobody really knows how the new equilibrium will settle out, and that adds to the importance of attending conferences and trade shows—not just IPC APEX EXPO, but all the professional events. You need to be where the experts and the colleagues are, asking questions and listening. I don’t mean to fearmonger, but if you think you know the current business landscape, it’s likely that you don’t. If you think your steady customers are safe and secure, then you had better be talking to them about how these sea changes are affecting their customers and their supply chain. The more you know about the industry as a whole, the better prepared you are to talk with your customers.

Also in this issue, IPC CEO and President Dr. John W. Mitchell brings the lights down in the theater with his column, which fades into a spotlight article on the IPC APEX EXPO Technical Conference. Thomas Marktscheffel and Chris Jorgensen each discuss Factory of the Future, followed by a preview of the Women in Electronics program by Alicia Balonek.

Columnist Mike Konrad looks at the industry forefront, while Tom Yang provides insight on how his company is using a unique “Eaglet” training program to cultivate new talent.

We know our industry isn’t going away, but we are clearly in an ongoing period of transformation. Now is the time for bold curiosity and thoughtful optimization in your business strategies. That is what this show—and all the shows, for that matter—are about. See you there.

This column originally appeared in the March 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine.