For the fourth time, Fraunhofer IZM’s Application Center organized the live production line Future Packaging at Nuremberg’s SMT, which was held April 16th-18th. This year, the production line featured live manufacturing of a PCB with thick copper inlay and ultra-fine wiring, mounted with 01005 components, flip chips and electromechanical components. Identification was performed using NFC. Guided demonstrations of the production line were held three times a day, and proved to be a no-fail crowd-drawer.

The 15 participating manufacturers were unanimously enthusiastic about the feedback from trade show participants: “The savviest audience in 10 years.”  Many participants arrived with very specific questions about recently launched manufacturing systems and new interconnection technologies. “We had more enquires than ever before” explains Karola Kröpfl from the company ATEcare, which this year pulled out all the stops, contributing not just one, but several inspection systems to the production line. The 15 exhibitors from industry and research were also pleased. “We’ve made a lot of new and interesting contacts and will definitely participate again next year.” says Michael Fullbrecht from the solder paste manufacturer Solder Chemistry, which participated for the first time this year.

A slot-car track was a particular highlight at the booth this year. No gain without pain! Racing fans keen to see the slot-cars in action first had to power them up - by hopping on an energy-generating bike and putting some muscle into it. The hype surrounding the Fraunhofer IZM Slot-Car Championship reached fever pitch during our booth party on Wednesday night. In a photo finish, Fraunhofer IZM’s production line organizer Harald Pötter managed to nudge ahead of equally determined competition from the companies Pac Tech, ENGMATEC and the Hochschule Würzburg... we suspect secret midnight training sessions provided the winning edge.