July 2019
Chain liability within the electronics manufacturing industry
Chain liability or chain responsibility is something that we are confronted with every day, also in nature. An ant colony only functions if the ants in the colony work together and take responsibility. We too, as individuals, can only function well if we work together with other people in society. This is no different within electronics and here too it [...]
PIEK, a family firm with over 50 years of experience
PIEK was founded in 1965 by the parents of the current two Managing Directors, Ben and Rob Walls. The parents spotted a high demand for education in the field of electronics, as e.g. applied in radios. It did not take long before the range of courses and venues was extended. In the 70s PIEK was present in many towns and [...]
e.GO: an affordable electric car for everybody
Electric mobility, a catchphrase that you see every day. Aachen, Germany is home to the production halls of the e.GO, the affordable electric car for everybody. Production takes place in an ultra-modern hall in Aachen. One thing you do not see there are welding robots, as e.GO has turned the production process into a magnificent form of digital art. Far-reaching [...]
2019 Trends, the sequel
We already stated in an earlier newsletter that we were going to look into a number of trends for the year 2019. In this article we will look into digital ethics, fake content and blockchain. Digital ethics In the week of 20 March the headlines in the Dutch media were about The Netherlands losing ground in the field of Artificial [...]
June 2019
The power of repetition
The matter of IPC certifications´ term of validity regularly leads top questions and uncertainty among those interested. How long are they valid? What if re-certification has not taken place in time? Why is re-certification necessary? Currently IPC certifications are a bare necessity in the electronic interconnect industry. Standards that are universally adopted, recognised across the world and adhered to by [...]
Cybercrime is getting bigger and more dangerous
Increasing digitisation, in all sectors, causes our society to be faced with cybercrime more and more often. The damage done by cybercrime will probably exceed $5.5 billion next year. It is not only criminals interested in your money, but there are also countries that explore ways to take advantage of cyberspace. The situation could be considered a cyber war. However, [...]
2019 Trends, a first exploration
As in any previous year, PIEK looks into the future and analyses which trends will affect the technical interconnect industry. The speed at which technological developments occur also shows that the number of trends will continue to grow. This is why we will devote various articles to the 2019 trends in the next few months. One topic will be the [...]
Eliane Chesnais wins hand-soldering contest at SMT
Eliane Chesnais was the winner of the hand-soldering contest at the Nuremberg SMT. It was the second time that she outdid the competition and grabbed the title. In all, there were 32 contestants from 24 different countries. Under the watchful eye of jury member Stefan Walls the contestants showed how they could create a correctly functioning electronic assembly on the [...]
May 2019
Industry 4.0, successful from the start
Industry 4.0 has been successful from the start, and further developments in the field of wireless communication have led to new markets, products and services. The speed of the transformation of the manufacturing industry because of industry 4.0 is many times higher that of the three previous industrial revolutions. Increasing digitisation, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning produce such [...]
April 2019
IPC hand soldering competition SMT 2019
IPC HAND SOLDERING COMPETITION Regional Qualification Germany IPC HSC Regional Qualification at SMTConnect Nuremberg, Germany, 7-9 May 2019 Hand soldering of high density PCBAs requires highly skilled & qualified technicians in order to meet zero-defect soldering leading to overall assembly reliability. Who’s the BEST of the BEST IN HAND SOLDERING ? IPC would like to invite you to join the inaugural IPC [...]
IPC to adjust conditions and prices for CITs as from 22 April 2019
As from 22 April training materials can no longer be ordered with PIEK or IPC but are to be downloaded via the IPC EDGE 2.0 platform. Member organisations of IPC are eligible for discounts, whereas organisations that are no members cannot get such discounts. Employees who are to be certified as CIT or MIT can get access to the IPC [...]
February 2019
Cybercrime, social media and IS
We can no longer imagine a world without social media, of all sorts and sizes. What we can see are shifts in popularity from one platform to another. YouTube and Pinterest are currently firm favourites, whereas Twitter and Facebook have been losing customers, also because of newly introduced privacy legislation and various scandals in the past few years. Cybercriminals, too, [...]
January 2019
Industry 4.0: sensors
In a previous article, we briefly described Industry 4.0 in the Internet of Things (IoT). In this article, we will further explore this topic. Sensors play a crucial role in Industry 4.0. They manage machines and processes, and they are connected with the Internet in one way or another. Sensors collect data and produce data. These data are then stored [...]
Printed circuit board industry is booming and the end is not in sight
When we see the number of new devices and applications entering the market, it is clear that the electronic interconnect industry is booming. It goes without saying that this implies the use of Artificial Intelligence, machine learning and the Internet of things. Turnover in the electronic interconnect industry is growing steadily. Second quarter turnover in 2018 exceeded that of 2017 [...]
Well-attended IPC day very successful
‘Interesting’, ‘learnt much today’, ‘gained new insights’, ‘fascinating speakers’. These are only a few comments from participants of the IPC – PIEK day. Keynote speaker Bhanu Sood, Commodity Risk Manager Assessment Engineer of NASA Goddard Space Flight Center gave his audience an insight into the experiences of his NASA colleagues and himself regarding PCBs and error analyses in an interactive [...]
November 2018
Drones in nature: friend or foe?
An earlier article was devoted to the influence of drones on agriculture and their use in crime fighting. In this article, we will be looking at what the impact is of drones on nature. We will see why drones are used, we will describe some examples of drones giving scientists a better insight into wild life, and finally we will [...]
