SAN DIEGO -- IPC Apex Expo opened yesterday, drawing better than moderate audience to its new location at the San Diego Convention Center.

Attendees swarmed keynote speaker William Shatner, with some sporting Trekkie gear and other paraphernalia as they lined up by the hundreds to get photos and autographs from the famed Star Trek actor.

On the show floor, the most interesting developments revealed so far include a new inline printed circuit board assembly cleaner from Aqueous Technologies. Named Typhoon, the short (12 ft. linear length) machine is considered safer than many traditional models thanks to magnetically conductive pumps that permit it to run (at reduced cleaning performance, of course) up to 36 hours without water, whereas most models' pumps freeze up after a few minutes under such conditions. The machine features rotating air knives, a 24" wide conveyor, and zero or filter discharge.

At Juki, CEO Bob Black showed a startling development that, while we cannot yet reveal, is likely to shake up the process equipment market down the road.

Matt Holzmann at Christopher Associates proudly displayed the MEK S1 SPI, reportedly with 50 micron resolution and 5D vision and claimed to be the fastest SPI on the market.

The EMS companies exhibiting, including STI Electronics and Divsys, were generally bullish in 2012, saying most of the pain from military spending delays should be worked through by the second quarter. Spokesmen from Nordson Dage and OK International acknowledged their respective companies are seeking acquisitions in the coming quarters.

Two companies (SMT and A-Tec) are now supplying inline convection reflow ovens containing vacuums, which are said to help reduce voiding.

On the fabrication side, most equipment companies said new sales are going to replace old machines, not to add capacity. Dow, Oak-Mitsui, RBP Chemical, Isola and Rogers were among the materials companies with new or soon-to-be released products.

IPC has narrowed its search for a new president to three candidates, none of which is reportedly from the IPC staff. All have association background but some are said to have various degrees of indirect industry experience. A decision is expected in the next few weeks.

On the move. At Universal Instruments, George Westby has semi-retired from the UIC Consortium, and Dave Vicara has been named to run the lab. Also, Jeff Mogensen, last seen with Speedline Technologies, has joined Parmi, and his former colleague Greg Lefevbre has joined Cardinal Circuit.

Overheard. A bid has been made for a major ($500 million-plus) publicly traded US-based EMS company but so far the company's asking price is higher than market value.

There is some chatter that the US Department of Defense is considering lifting the ITAR ban on PCBs, which would dramatically shake up (read: eviscerate) the US PCB market. TTM, the largest PCB supplier to the Pentagon, and others are said to be pushing back on the DoD.

Discuss this year's IPC Apex Expo with Mike Buetow at PCB Chat on March 2 from 2 to 3 pm EST.