BANNOCKBURN, IL – Ljupce Talevski from Aluwave took first place in IPC's first Rework Experience Competition, a test of skills in reworking a finished printed circuit board.

Ekatarina Stahlmann from Grundig Business Systems finished second. Coming in third was Conny Hielscher, also from Grundig.

The event was held at the SMT Hybrid Packaging show in Nuremberg, Germany, in May.  

Over the three-day show, participants had to assemble area array devices and fine pitch packages, and then remove the packages from the board. Competitors then reworked the board to make it functional again. Boards were examined by a third-party IPC master instructor.

Seven total participants competed, all of whom completed the challenge.