Springing back into the electronics supply chain travel season

My backyard looks like swamp land today, as the weekend’s now melting snow has mixed with mud and dead leaves to form this sort of suburban mush below grey skies and beyond the house’s deck. My iPod touch’s weather button tells me there’s more mush to come with rain, snow, and sub-freezing temps continuing this week here in New York. I’m done with winter. Time for spring’s green buds and warm breezes, and time to start traveling again.

Spring brings two of the electronics supply chain’s bigger shows: IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX & the Designers Summit and EDS, both in sunny Las Vegas.

You’ll find full event info at the respective sites for the events. But here’s a list of highlights you’ll want to schedule in:

IPC Printed Circuits Expo, APEX & the Designers Summit (March 29 - April 3)

Rodney Brooks (pictured), director of MIT’s computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory and the founder of iRobot, will take a page out of science fiction and explore when artificial intelligence stop being artificial, among other topics, in his keynote. (Tuesday, April 1, 8:30-9:30am)

IPC will be hosting a session, “Global Environmental Regulations: The Next Generation from Europe to China and Back.” Huang Jianzhong from PRC MII (Beijing) and Patrice Rollet from Avantec (France) will be providing the latest information on China ROHS and EU REACH, respectively. (Tuesday, April 1, 2008, 10:30am-12:00pm)

And iNEMI’s Lead-Free Forum will review phase one results of its Pb-Free Wave Soldering Project and final results from the recently completed Pb-Free BGAs in SnPb Assemblies Project. (Tuesday April 1, 1:30-3:00pm)

EDS (May 5-8)

William E. Mitchell, president of number two distributor Arrow Electronics, is set to keynote. (Monday, May 5, 4pm)

The NEDA Distributor Breakfast, where Robin Gray, NEDA executive VP, will present the organization’s updated stance in the electronics supply chain, is always a valuable event. (Tuesday, May 6, 6:45am)

And there’s an industry seminar set, “Talent Pool in America,” that will address how the US electronics distribution industry can compete in the global economy using education, training, and sound HR practices. (Tuesday, May 6, 1pm)

Post EDS and far from Vegas, Endicott Interconnect Technologies on May 14 will open up its headquarters in Endicott, NY, for a day’s discussion on the future success of companies in the electronic interconnect industry. The day’s keynote, “Leading Edge Technology: What Will Be Expected of the Supply Chain?,” looks interesting. For more on the IPC sponsored event, click here.

For all those readers out there who have left many, many voicemails for me in the last week, I’m still not sure what industry event’s I’ll be attending this year. As soon as I know, you’ll know Meanwhile, it’s on with my wool coat and boots to go shovel out the basement’s window wells, which have filled with ice and snow that’s been slowly leaking into our basement. Fun. How many more days until spring?