By Gail Flower, editor-in-chief
One of the best parts of our industry is the spirit of cooperation, camaraderie, and outreach that seems to embody all that’s best in human nature. Advanced Packaging often collaborates with industry organizations to plan their events, whether through panel discussions, rounding up speakers, or co-sponsoring the event. We participate to help spread the knowledge in another word format, other than written or digital. I recently returned from a cooperative effort with MEPTEC that helped them celebrate their 30th anniversary with a program titled, Packaging Developments and Innovations: From System Design to Integrated Delivery.

We recruited the keynote speaker, Glenn Daves, director of packaging technology, Freescale, and many of the other presenters. I chaired a session, “Package-to-Board Assembly Trends,” featured Lee Smith, VP of business development at Amkor, who talked about challenging applications driving package innovations; Adrian Murphy, product engineering manager at STATS ChipPAC, who presented on flip chip packaging trends and opportunities; and Gheorghe Pascariu, business development manager at Unovis, who talked about high-speed placement of wafer-level devices using SMT equipment.

Approximately 140 people attended this day-long seminar in San Jose with four sessions, tabletop exhibits and a keynote luncheon. Every one of us learned about more than just his or her segment of the industry, and the common sharing enriched us all. JoAnn Stromberg of the SMTA was in the audience as a goodwill boost to MEPTEC to help celebrate the 30th year of MEPTEC’s existence and to pick up ideas between organizations. At the evening, end-of-day reception, local visitors came who couldn’t make the many day-long educational sessions. Everyone left with a book, a CD, some business cards, a few new friends, and a little more knowledge.