Bannockburn, IL. IPC, in conjunction with IFTEC, conducted the IPC Hand Soldering Competition at IFTEC in Paris. The competition was fierce as 33 competitors went soldering iron to soldering iron to take the hand soldering competition crown. Taking first place with a cash prize of €300 and a JBC Soldering Station was Catherine Cardinal-Simon from Thales Microelectronic in France, who earned 443 points out of a possible 446. Cardinal–Simon will now compete at the IPC World Championship Hand Soldering Competition located this year at productronica 2017 on November 17.
Second place and a cash prize of €200 this year went to Mathieu Roudier from 3D Plus in France, who earned 438 out of a possible 446. Valerie Elliot Saudras from SELHA Group in France took third place and a cash prize of €100. Participants in the hand soldering competition were tasked with building a functional electronics assembly, a new design this year, within a 60-minute time limit. Master Instructor Trainers from IFTEC 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 printed circuit board.
“The best-of-the-best hand soldering talent in France came to compete at IFTEC,” 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 competitions across the globe.”
Bergman thanked hand soldering competition gold sponsors JBC, Kurtz Ersa, Thales, and Weller; silver sponsors Icape, MBO, and Metronelec; and bronze sponsors CIF, IFTEC, JBC, MicroCare, and SDEP.
The Paris competition followed a competition earlier this year at SMT Hybrid Packaging 2017 in Nuremberg, Germany. IPC is planning to hold additional hand soldering competitions in Europe, later this year in November as well as in 2018. Watch for announcements from IPC with locations and times.