Can 75,000 people in one place be environmentally friendly?
For
a second time in recent months, nearly back-to-back trade shows, worlds
apart, have provided visitors with the stark contrast of East and West.
CPCA was held this year at the Shanghai New
International Expo Centre. This is the second year the event has been
held here, and while the location is outside of city center, the
facilities are excellent and transportation to and from hotels
plentiful. Like 2007, the CPCA Show shared the massive fair grounds
with allied electronics events, Electronica and ProductronicaChina and
Semicon China. The reported attendance at these simultaneous events
exceeded a staggering 75,000 during the week of the show.
What
sets CPCA apart from other PCB exhibitions is the number of companies
that come to show exclusively PCB-centric products. Unlike IPC Printed
Circuits Expo/Apex, where the bulk of the exhibitors are assembly
vendors, at CPCA over 500 PCB fabrication companies and PCB
fabrication-specific suppliers are on display.
The
exhibition covered 350,000 square feet this year, up 100,000 square
feet over last year. Attendance for the three-day event reportedly
topped 40,000. Exhibitors represented the global complexion the show
has taken, coming from U.S, UK, Canada, France, Japan, Korea, Italy,
Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Netherlands, Denmark, Hong Kong, Taiwan
and China.
This year the focus was on green
manufacturing methods and equipment for water and air purification.
Some 12% of the exhibits featured products for clean water, air and
improved environmental conservation. Companies like Duraflow
(duraflow.biz), in partnership with a local company, are bringing
state-of-the-art environmental management solutions from water
treatment to full water-recycling equipment into China, to meet the
increasingly stringent wastewater treatment demands.
The
theme of environmentally friendly processing permeated the event, and
was a carryover from the 11th Electronics World Convention earlier in
the week. Laminate and process chemical companies alike touted
environmentally aware messages, from lead-free and halogen-free
materials to semi-additive and fully additive fabrication processing.
As
in previous years, the first hall was dominated by a handful of large
suppliers. WKK, Mania, Hitachi, Schmoll and Schmid occupied over 1000
square meters of prime floor space. Equipment dominated, as is typical
for these events. Over 44% of the booths featured equipment, ranging
from drilling machine manufacturers like Timax Electronics &
Machinery of Hong Kong, to laboratory measurement tools from the
Fischer Asia-Pacific Group.
There was an increased
number of local Chinese equipment manufacturers as well, supplying a
variety of PCB fabrication tools for cleaning, plating, etching,
scrubbing and even testing. Improving quality of construction and
competitive cost from some local manufacturers has led to increased use
of this equipment in the past 12 to 18 months.
Some
global PCB suppliers were missing from CPCA this year. Rohm & Haas
has attended Semicon China, versus making an appearance across the
fairgrounds in the CPCA halls. Other chemical companies such as OM
Group and Cookson/Enthone also did not exhibit at CPCA.
In
contrast to the large PCB fabrication-focused CPCA event, IPC Expo/Apex
was dominated by assembly companies and assembly equipment. That said,
the total floor coverage for the Las Vegas-based IPC event, including
space occupied by EMS companies, was less than half the size of CPCA.
More people attended the IPC exhibits than did last year, when the show
was in Los Angeles, but the initial tally of exhibit attendees (3300)
was less than 10% of the three-day CPCA crowds. (Official numbers for
IPC Expo/Apex had not been released as of April 15, when we went to
press.)
A number of products were introduced at the
show, including products from Arlon; Automa-Tech ORC Imaging; Bürkle
North America; Circuit Technology Center; Fischer Technology; March
Plasma Systems; Printar Ltd.; TrueLogic Co; World Mastery Technology;
American Plating Power; Baker-MEI; C.A. Picard; Shanghai FAST-PCB
Circuit; Sunstone Circuits; Excellon Automation; Taiwan Union
Technology; UPA Technology; Allied High Tech Products; Count On Tools;
and Unichem Industries. A full listing can be found at
pcdandf.com/cms/IPCExpo2008.
While most assembly
suppliers found the traffic good, many fabrication vendors voiced
concerns about the lack of attendees in their areas from early
afternoon on Wednesday through the close of the show on Thursday. A
number of global materials suppliers agreed that IPC Expo has become a
regional event, so the moderate traffic levels did not come as much of
a surprise.
The attendees, citing the conference and
exhibition in Las Vegas said it is a “love it or hate it” affair. We
spoke with as many fans as detractors. Regardless of their position,
everyone found the distance between hotels and the conference center
trying, the lines for cabs excessive, check-in and dining untenable and
the less-than-business-like atmosphere problematic more than once
during their stay.
There were engineers and
researchers who have avoided attending the conferences over the past
few years, as Anaheim wore thin and Los Angeles failed to entice. A
number of them made their way to Las Vegas this year because they
could, and they called it “an interesting place to visit.” I met a
number of spouses for the first time and reacquainted myself with old
friends who had not been to an IPC conference in over three years. Most
said they would probably not be back next year.
We
were told that a number of exhibitors captured new sales on the show
floor, and others have a few new leads to point to for the time and
investment spent. Most of us had an opportunity to network but even
this was hampered by the location, this distance between hotels and the
hall and the general distractions associated with Sin City.
From
a personal perspective, I like my business in a suit and prefer to have
my fun without endless lines and disorganized crowds of people, so
Vegas is not my cup of tea. After four days of extended waiting for
everything from baggage claim to check-in to cabs to registration at
the event to the never-quick lunches, I was ready to head home. A
longtime colleague mused on Thursday as we headed to catch a cab to the
airport, I feel like I spent the week in an ‘E ticket’ line and I’m
still waiting for the fantastic ride.” We didn’t find one in Vegas.
Perhaps you did. PCD&F
Kathy Nargi-Toth is editor of PCD&F.
