We are hearing from a number of companies who are winning orders off the APEX trade show floor. It seems buyers were looking for show specials and though this is not an unusual situation at trade shows, this year the reports are more wide spread and the volume is high. One AOI company I spoke with had sold everything that they brought to the booth and will be shipping seven machines off the show floor directly to customers.
We spoke directly with contract manufacturers in tier I, II and III who were all excited about the show and here to find new machinery and materials during the next quarter. Several participants we spoke with were also talking about modest increases in sales so far this year compared to the same period last year. It would seem that in spite of confusing financial conditions and the media spreading the “R” word, the Electronics markets in general are doing okay...
Wednesday’s show was almost as busy as Tuesday’s, but seemed to get a later start, probably a few more attendees spent Tuesday night at Las Vegas attractions… Exhibiting companies seemed quite satisfied with the show and the number of attendees ready to make buying decisions surprised them. Virtually all reported they would return again next year, which is quite a bit different than the sentiment from the show in LA last year. It looks like the decision to move the show was the correct one….
Many companies had Press Events at the show highlighting new technology and one of the largest attended on the show floor was Indium Corporation, which introduced a new lead-free, no-clean solder paste called 8.9. Many exhibitors were walking around with large Indium Corp. boxes with information on the company’s new offerings.
We then stopped at Asymtek which was introducing a new piezoelectric solder paste dispensing head which has the capabilities to dispense dots as small as 5 mils, using a typical dispensing grade solder paste.
We also stopped at the YESTech booth to see their new conformal coating inspection system which detects errors in the coating process with the accuracy and repeatability of a vision system versus the usual operator working under a black light.
We sat down with Craig Arcuri, President of NBS Design founded in 1999 that has grown from its first $400 order to a $40 million dollar company. They are now widely recognized as a unique source of rapid response, PCB layout, and turnkey manufacturing solutions including NAPE to Pilot Production, Manufacturing test, and rework serving some of the biggest CMS and OEMS in the world. His passion for what he and his team does at NBS is infectious. True customer focus and a desire to truly help them solve their unique and individual problems drives this companies success.
Robert Chu from Henkel went over some of their new product offerings with us, including the new Hysol FP6200 chosen by Singapore based Advanpack Solutions as a key part of a new thermal compression bonding solution for semiconductor packaging exemplifies their strong focus on customer process needs.
Another cool new product that caught our eye, demonstrated to us by Grant Peterson, was the Mega M.O.L.E. 20, a new thermal profiling tool and its supporting software system Mega M.O.L.E map from Electronic Controls Design. This unique ultra thin device combined with powerful software will be of interest to many people who are looking for dynamic profiling solutions.
The show will be winding down today, but expect to continue hearing announcements from industry companies and we will be reporting up till closing time at 2:00 PM.
