As a Vermont resident, business travel is always welcomed this time of year.
The sub-zero temperatures as of late certainly helped me head for the southern climates for IMAPS Southeast in Florida. The conference was held at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando—very nice facility, and great weather.
At a show like IMAPS Southeast, you can always count on stimulating topics and exceptional conversations despite the small conference size. As I chatted with folks from different regions and backgrounds, I started to compare this community of microelectronic packaging experts to the neighbors in my small town in Vermont. Even though we are part of a huge multi-billion dollar market when it comes to “electronics assembly”, there is a smaller component of that group that does the “hard stuff”, such as odd-form deep access wire bonding, high-accuracy wafer level packaging, or even highly secured assembly services laboratories with computerized production monitoring and management. This is the “niche” that IMAPS (International Microelectronics and Packaging Society) builds its organization around. This small community is often on the leading edge of new development and progressive processes for emerging technologies. IMAPS—which has been around for over 40 years (est 1967 as ISHM)—has a resonating goal:”To advance and expand the technologies for all levels of electronic and microelectronic packaging through professional and public education, the dissemination of information, and the promotion of the Society's portfolio of technologies." IMAPS' core compentency statement is inline with the many educational and knowledge-sharing pillars that we at Palomar support.
Going back to my analogy of the small town, I felt a strong sense of community and a common purpose throughout IMAPS Southeast. The sharing of information in regards to new packaging trends and processes is important for all of us. Looking at IMAPS history, the Society was formed by a group of people who had a common need to understand a new packaging technology; and over four decades later, that need has not diminished.
As I discussed processes that were essentially unheard of a few years ago, it renewed the importance of these regional conferences and that “golden nugget” of knowledge that we find among our peers. As someone involved in the capital equipment side of the business, I take pride in being part of an organization that not only tackles the “hard stuff” in niche microelectronic packaging, but relishes it!
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Dale Perry
Regional Sales Manager, Eastern North America
Palomar Technologies