April 2018
Smart trees make street lighting redundant
Imagine a world in which street lighting is superfluous. No extra energy would be needed to power street lamps, because trees and shrubs already light the streets. It could be a horror scenario for energy suppliers and for producers of street lamps and lighting equipment, since it would endanger their business model. For the European Union and its 20-20-20 objectives, [...]
March 2018
4D printing is hot, 3D printing is not
Many people will not know this, but 3D printing has been around for 30 years. The technology is used with various every-day products, such as toys, household gadgets and technical tools. 3D printing technology is also used in the automotive industry, aviation and aerospace, the medical world and the building sector. Particularly in the medical world 3D printing technology has [...]
Sensors, the new human eyes
Sensor technology is making rapid progress, opening up many options for innovations. The autonomously driving car is one of these, and in the maritime world sensor technology has also become a key technology. The technology used there for years is now trickling through in the automotive industry. A good example is the new LIDAR systems (Light Detection And Ranging or [...]
One-stop shopping Now Available!
It is becoming much more common in the retail business, having just the one place to which you can turn for all your shopping. Marketeers call this phenomenon one-stop shopping. In the technical interconnect industry there is also one organisation to which this concept applies. It is PIEK. The family-run business PIEK is a household name in the technical interconnect [...]
February 2018
Industry 4.0, the road to success
Last year we informed you in an article about the rise of and the milestones in industry 4.0. In this article we would like to proceed with the impact that industry 4.0 will have on industry, especially the technical interconnect industry. What we are seeing today is four trends that will further impact the industrial world in the course of [...]
Big Brother is watching you drive
Drinking alcohol and driving do not mix. It is an age-old truth that we are also reminded of in government campaigns. Alcohol is at the root of nearly 11% of fatal car accidents across the world. These days, however, something else is ousting alcohol from its first place. You have guessed it. It is our mobile phone. In the USA [...]
Agriculture and horticulture are high tech
High-tech companies such as Sharp, Panasonic, Fujitsu, and Toshiba are rapidly expanding into agricultural and horticultural products, using their technical expertise. Japanese agriculture and horticulture has been facing extremely keen competition from abroad for years. This is why the Japanese government has developed incentives enabling tech firms to invest in agriculture and horticulture. It has worked wonders. The use of [...]
Learning and exploring
There are many educational institutes in the market of the electronic inter-connect industry. When compared with PIEK, some are less expensive, have more branches or have a more limited course offer. Are the costs of certification or re-certification actually justified? Have the employees been trained in relevant aspects that they can apply in practice afterwards? Do certification and re-certification have [...]
January 2018
Customisation is the standard at PIEK
Companies in the electronic interconnect industry are continually subject to changes, innovations and trends. The one thing that they have in common is the set of worldwide guidelines for the electronic inter-connect industry, the so-called IPC certifications. These certifications and re-certifications are the standards for the electronic inter-connect industry, ensuring that the IPC regulations and guidelines are taught worldwide and [...]
Ultimate responsibility in the automotive industry
Dieselgate has led to many recall actions worldwide. Not only Volkswagen was hurt by things that were incorrect in their products, but other car manufacturers also suffered alongside: Mercedes with its Arcos lorry, Toyota with the Akata airbag, Mitsubishi with its lorries and plenty of others. How about the responsibility in these matters? Ultimate responsibility in the automotive industry is [...]
December 2017
Labour market in desperate need of technical staff
For many years there has been a shortage on the labour market of staff with a high-quality, technical education. This is not only the case in Western Europe but also in Eastern Europe. And things are not improving. Not only university-level technical staff is getting hard to find, also at vocational and lower levels technicians and mechanics have become a [...]
November 2017
Hand Soldering Competition – New World Champion Crowned by IPC
IPC, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries® once again presented its very popular Hand Soldering Competition in cooperation with productronica 2017. The competition was held at productronica, with the regional competition taking place from November 14 to 16, followed by the World Championship on the 17th November. Sixteen competitors participated in the world championship and represented their companies and countries, including [...]
Aviation industry on the eve of revolution
There are various stakeholders in the aviation industry, as you can see in the figure above. High-tech systems Systems Design & Construction Materials Aircraft structures & systems Aircraft construction & maintenance Aircraft materials & processes Maintenance These stakeholders jointly contribute to the realisation of a communal project, such as an aeroplane or a helicopter. The individual stakeholder will always have [...]
Rockwell Collins, key player in aviation
Rockwell Collins engineers have been IPC certified by PIEK for many years. In the last few weeks various Rockwell Collins employees were at PIEK´s head office for an IPC certification course. Rockwell Collins is widely known in the aviation industry, producing numerous articles ranging from seats and de-icing systems to oxygen systems and ovens. A complete overview of Rockwell Collins [...]
E-sport or gaming with the electronic interconnect industry
If you think that this article about e-sport will be about pedometers and heart rate counters, you had better stop reading. E-sport is ‘a multiplayer video game played competitively for spectators, typically by professional gamers’, according to the Oxford dictionaries. Whether e-sport is really a sport is still open to debate. Those who think that the idea of sports presupposes physical exertion do [...]
October 2017
IPC Hand Soldering Competition
IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries®, will once again host its very popular Hand Soldering Competition at the productronica 2017 trade fair for electronics development and production in Munich, Germany. The competition will be held in Hall A1, stand 307 at this year’s event on 14 – 16 November. Competitors will demonstrate their soldering skills as they compete for cash [...]
