May 16, 2016 The competition was fierce as a new record of 43 competitors competed at IPC’s Hand Soldering Competition at SMT Hybrid Packaging 2016 in Nuremberg, Germany. Taking first place and a cash prize of €300 was Ekatarina Stahlmann of Grundig Business Syst., who earned 495 points out of 506.
Second place and a cash prize of €200 went to Eliane Chesnais, Thales International. Sandra Klinger, SüdWest-Elektronik, took third place and a cash prize of €100.
Participants in the hand soldering competition were tasked with building a functional electronics assembly within a 60-minute time limit. Master Instructor Trainers Rob and Stefan Walls, PIEK, served as independent judges and evaluated each assembly based on workmanship, overall functionality, compliance with IPC-A-610 Class 3 criteria and speed to complete the PCB.
“The best-of-the-best hand soldering talent in Europe came to compete at this event,” said David Bergman, IPC vice president of international relations. “The competition was tough, but each competitor rose to the challenge. We look forward to hosting more hand soldering competition across the globe.”
Bergman added, “IPC would like to thank hand soldering competition gold sponsors: JBC, Kurtz Ersa, and Weller; silver sponsors: Almit, Balver Zinn, and Elmatica; bronze sponsor: Optilia and Piek; and contest contributors: IFTEC and Mircosolder for their support.”
IPC is planning to hold another hand soldering competition later this year in Europe, watch for an announcement with location and time. For more information on IPC events visit, www.ipc.org/events.
IPC (www.IPC.org) is a global industry association based in Bannockburn, Ill., dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its 3,700 member companies which represent all facets of the electronics industry, including design, printed board manufacturing, electronics assembly and test. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of an estimated $2 trillion global electronics industry. IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Washington, D.C.; Atlanta, Ga.; Brussels, Belgium; Stockholm, Sweden; Moscow, Russia; Bangalore and New Delhi, India; Bangkok, Thailand; and Qingdao, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Suzhou and Beijing, China.
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