Bob Black, President and CEO, Juki Automation Systems

Covering four of the massive eight exhibit halls at the center, the show covers design hardware and software, printed circuit materials and fabrication equipment, and assembly equipment.

Wednesday was opening day, and more than 10,000 attendees poured through the doors for the 10 AM opening. Traffic in the booths was heavy, and most exhibitors were well satisfied. Of course working for Juki, I spent much of the day in the Juki Booth.

Rick Nagashima, head of Juki’s SMT Division, reports that China business is seeing rapid growth, with Southeast Asia, India, Korea, and Japan seeing good growth as well. Today’s problem; ramping up production to meet the demand. Parts shortages are common these days and are a continuous headache as production ramps up.

In the middle of the day came news that Japan's Prime Minister, Yukio Hatoyama, had resigned due his broken campaign promise to close the US base on Okinawa. The hall buzzed with the news briefly. Then people seemed to shrug and went back to business.

By show's close at 5 PM, no one was talking about it anymore. Can you imagine how empty Washington DC would be if our politicians in the US resigned if they broke a promise?

Another topic frequently discussed on the show floor, was the Foxconn suicide situation in China. What a wide variety of opinions exist on that topic! The most interesting theory I heard today from a visitor from Hong Kong, was that Foxconn employees have life insurance paid by the company on the event of death on Foxconn property. He claimed the people were committing suicide at Foxcon to provide for their families. A unique theory anyway.

So Asia is back in growth mode, and the mood in Japan is upbeat. Tomorrow we’ll talk to a few of the movers and shakers at the show and get their views on the markets around the world and the technology trends.