BANNOCKBURN, Ill., USA, February 15, 2022 — In cooperation with Southern Manufacturing & Electronics, IPC hosted its popular Hand Soldering Competition (HSC), on February 8-10. Skilled competitors demonstrated their expertise in hand soldering printed circuit boards while competing for cash prizes. The first-in-person trade show held in the United Kingdom since the onset of the COVID pandemic, and the first time IPC held a competition at Southern Manufacturing and Electronics, the HSC welcomed 15 competitors, representing 11 electronics companies from the United Kingdom. A technically challenging competition board was introduced this year which resulted in only two of the 15 competitors successfully completing a functioning circuit board assembly.

On the winner’s podium at Southern Manufacturing & Electronics were:

First Place: Justyna Mikolajczyk, ZETTLEX (United Kingdom), completing her board in 57 minutes and 50 seconds, scoring 549 points out of 558 possible points. She received a first-place certificate, cash prize of £300 and a gift from HSC sponsor Almit.

Second Place: Przemyslav Marszalek, TVC-The Validation Center Ltd. (United Kingdom), completing his board in 57 minutes and 56 seconds with 524 points out of 558 possible points. He received a second-place certificate, a cash prize of £200 and a gift from HSC sponsor Almit.

IPC thanks Polygone CAO, who designed this year’s competition board in accordance with IPC-A-610H criteria and featured 116 components that provided a significant challenge to competitors,

IPC-A-610 Master Instructors from ART-Advanced Rework Technologies, an IPC licensed master training center in the United Kingdom, served as competition judges for this year’s competition.

IPC thanks HSC sponsors for their generous support:

• Gold Sponsors: Hakko, Atelier Systems and Thalès
• Silver Sponsors:  Almit GmbH, Optilia, SFM-Société Française de Microscopie, and Polygone CAO
• Local Sponsors: Southern Manufacturing & Electronics and ART-Advanced Rework Technologies.

Upcoming HSC competitions in Europe include:

• Regional Competition in Hungary -- InnoElectro in Budapest from March 29-31, 2022
• Regional Competition in Germany -- SMTconnect in Nurenberg from May 10-12, 2022
• Regional Competition in France -- Global Industrie in Paris from May 18-20, 2022.

For more information on participating in HSC competitions in Europe, contact Philippe Leonard, IPC Europe director, at PhilippeLeonard@ipc.org. Registrations forms will be available on the IPC’s HSC-dedicated page, soon.