BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, April 18, 2018 — IPC, in conjunction with Global Industrie/Midest, Snese and IFTEC, conducted an IPC Hand Soldering Competition in Paris on March 27-30, 2018. The competition was fierce as 48 competitors went soldering iron to soldering iron to compete for the coveted hand soldering competition crown. For the first time in the IPC hand soldering competition history, the top three winners came from the same company, Matra Electronique in France. Taking first place with a cash prize of €300 and winning a JBC soldering station was Nathalie Kaladgwe, who earned 440 points out of a possible 445. Kaladgwe will be invited to compete at the IPC World Championship Hand Soldering Competition at IPC APEX EXPO 2019, San Diego, in January 2019.

Second place and a cash prize of €200 this year went to Mickael Delannoy, who earned 438 out of a possible 445. Julie Delannoy took third place and a cash prize of €100. Participants in the hand soldering competition were tasked with building a functional electronics assembly, an innovative 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-610G 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 Global Industrie/Midest,” 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 added, “IPC would like to thank hand soldering competition gold sponsors: JBC, Thales, Weller, Hakko and Davum TMC; silver sponsors: Almit, Metronelec and NCAB Group; bronze sponsor: CIF, IFTEC, MicroCare, SDEP, Optilia and Davum TMC; Contributors: Laser technologie France and Les Cahiers, for their support.”

IPC is planning to hold additional hand soldering competitions in Europe, later this year in June. Watch for announcements from IPC with locations and times. For more information on IPC events visit, www.ipc.org/events.