Over 25 companies and organizations attended 14 meetings of Committees, Subcommittees and Working Groups at the EIA Standards and Technology Fall Engineering Summit.  More than a dozen new or revised standards were adopted that are crucial to advancing the industry, from connectors to components, soldering technology and automated component handling.  Spread over four days, the Summit was an excellent networking opportunity with engineering leaders across many product categories as they considered, developed and finalized the technical underpinnings of the industry.

Krystek Presented Distinguished Fellow Award
Paul Krystek, IBM Global Procurement, was presented with the ECA Distinguished Fellow Award that recognizes individuals who have served EIA and its electronic component engineering activities through their dedication and commitment to development and use of standards and specifications as methods for growth and stability in the electronics industry. Krystek has been a participant in EIA engineering activities for more than 15 years and is a member of the ECA Board of Directors and an advocate of ECA Engineering and Standards programs.

Special keynote presentations at the Fall Summit included:

Bill Cutler, Plant Manager, Ceramics Facility, Bourns, Inc.
Competing in a World-Wide Market in the 21st century
who describes how companies’ products and services can just stay competitive or lead the industry – highlighting competition in the future and how to win with quality and reliability improvements in manufacturing processes and enhanced customer satisfaction in service

Robert Pfahl, Jr., VP of Operations, iNEMI
A Snapshot of New Findings on Passive Components in the 2009 iNEMI Roadmap
overviewing the business issues, system packaging evolution, components trends & needs, alternative technologies, and green materials and energy efficiencies – elements included in the 2009 iNEMI roadmap to be released shortly.                                   

Michael Everett, VP & CTO, Maxwell Technologies
Ultracapacitors:  a Mainstream Energy Storage and Power Delivery Solution
assessed ultracapacitor technology, energy storage capability and automotive trends, the role and activities of KiloFarad International, and related new opportunities in design & deployment.  This presentation resulted in creation of the new P-2.7 Electric Dual Layer Ceramic Capacitor committee whose work will begin shortly.

Ed Mikoski, VP Standards and Business Development, TIA
EIATRACK the essential business tool for global companies working across borders, jurisdictions and countries.  He related that at a time when environmental sustainability and business profitability goals have merged, TIA offers companies a way to strategize for their future growth and environmentally conscious initiatives in new markets.  He describes the elements of  TIA's EIATRACK that systematically tracks, analyzes and reports on product-oriented environmental legislation in Europe, Asia Pacific, North America and South America, providing companies a cost effective “early-warning system” for monitoring and evaluating product-related measures.

Plan to attend the Spring 2009 Engineering Summit in New Orleans, LA, April 27-30, 2009.

2008 Fall Summit Attendees – Companies and Organizations

Amphenol
Cisco Systems
Contech Research
Cornell Dubilier Electronics
Defense Supply Center Columbus
ECA
Electro-Comp Services, Inc.
IBM
KFI
KOA Speer Electronics
KEMET Corporation
Maxwell Technologies
Molex Inc.
Murata Electronics
Northrop-Grumman
Nu-Way Electronics
Presidio Components
SAMTEC, Inc.
SOC America
South Central College
TDK Corporation of America
TEK PAK, Inc.
Texas Instruments
TIA
Tri-Star Electronics International Inc.
V-Tek, Inc.
VISHAY
Wright Capacitors, Inc