Raymond says - Importance of Western Regions Growing - Day 2 at NEPCON West China

The second day of NEPCON West China started brightly with visits to the booths of Fuji, Quick, ERSA and GKG Precision in the morning. I had a closer look the latest scalable placement machines at Fuji, automated soldering equipment at Quick, and screen printing solutions at GKG. ERSA, which provides a full range of assembly equipment including screen printers, reflow, wave and selective soldering equipment, and rework systems, is actively promoting its "ERSA goes green" motto in which the company pledges to sustainably use resources and optimize energy efficiency.

So far, many suppliers I had spoken to have emphasized the importance of the western region of China in their companies' growth strategy and have started to set up offices in Sichuan province, including Chengdu and Chongqing.  These companies have traditionally been based in the eastern coastal regions of China in cities such as Suzhou, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Dongguan but are starting to expand westward. "Business has quadrupled over the past year and we just cannot ignore this region anymore," said one major supplier of test equipment. Even science and technology development companies such as Beijing SRC are proudly exhibiting their "Made in China" products at the show.
 
At the PCB Pavilion, the event that has been drawing the crowds is the IPC organized hand soldering competition. David Bergman, Vice President of International Relations at IPC, is excited and pleased by the uptake of the event at the three cities (Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu) where it has been held so far. A total of 280 companies have participated in the event, including 70 at NEPCON West China. "Soldering standards have been very high at these events and stringent judging criteria have been necessary to determine the winners of the competition," said Bergman.
 
A good number of visitors are walking the aisles and the NEPCON conferences have been very well attended. Although the crowd started to get thinner by late afternoon, there are enough business activities and enquiries taking place to keep many exhibitors busy.

Stay tuned for happenings on the concluding day of the show tomorrow!