SMTA and Canon Communications sign agreement for west coast shows

The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) and Canon Communications LLC announced today that they have entered into a cooperation agreement in support of the Electronics West show, a key feature in Canon's 3,000 exhibitor West coast event that consists of six additional co-located shows in the Anaheim Convention Center - Medical Design & Manufacturing (MD&M) West, Pacific Design & Manufacturing, Automation Technology Expo (ATX) West, WestPack, PTX West, and Green Manufacturing Expo - the largest of event its kind in the U.S. Its three day exposition will be held January 29-31, 2008 while the conference will begin one day earlier and will run January 28 -31, 2008.

Under the terms of the agreement, the SMTA will grant Electronics West its official endorsement and encourage its members to participate in the event. They will also recruit and produce conference programs to complement two of the seven shows. The SMTA Medical Electronics Conference will be run alongside the long-running MD&M West conference, while Electronics West gets an SMTA produced electronics manufacturing conference to support the new products and technologies being displayed on its show floor. Canon will promote the SMTA medical electronics and Electronics West conferences in its wide reaching attendance campaigns to medical OEMs and electronics manufacturers throughout the western United States. Both organizations look forward to extending and broadening this one-year agreement to 2009 and beyond.

"We are excited to partner with an association like the SMTA with its experience and credibility in presenting electronics manufacturing conference programs worldwide," said Charles G. McCurdy, president and CEO of Canon Communications. "In our efforts to deliver to the West Coast a comprehensive advanced design and manufacturing event, this addition significantly bolsters our event's educational program for manufacturing engineers and management."

SMTA president David Raby echoed this enthusiasm. "The SMTA is thrilled with this opportunity to return to Southern California. The Canon event has reached international stature and it is the perfect venue for us to serve our two local chapters as well as electronics manufacturers from throughout the United States and abroad."