In cooperation with productronica 2021, IPC hosted the popular Hand Soldering Competition (HSC), on November 16-19. Skilled competitors demonstrated their expertise in hand soldering while competing for cash prizes. The first-in-person trade show held in Germany since the onset of the COVID pandemic, IPC and productronica welcomed 21 hand soldering experts representing 14 electronics companies.
On the winner’s podium at productronica 2021: First: Allison Guermond, Safran Fougères (France), completing her board in 59 minutes with 552 points out of 558 possible points. She received the IPC first place certificate, a cash prize of €300, a soldering station from sponsor Hakko, and a gift from sponsor Almit.
Second: Nathalie Foubert, Safran Fougères (France), completing her board in 59 minutes and 10 seconds with 552 points out of 558 possible points. She received the IPC second place certificate, a cash prize of €200, a soldering station from sponsor Hakko, and a gift from sponsor Almit.
Third: Stéphanie Devy, Thalès Six GTS, Cholet (France), finishing her board in 51 minutes, 45 seconds scoring 545 points out of 558 possible points. She received the third-place certificate from IPC, a cash prize of €100, and a gift from sponsor Almit.
New this year – The IPC award to the best company team
IPC and its partner productronica presented a new award, recognizing the best company team in hand soldering. Companies with two or three competitors were automatically entered in the best company competition. The best company award was determined by the best scores of the contestants from that company. This year, 6 companies competed, with the top prize going to: Safran Fougères (France), with the combined score of 1,104 against a maximum possible score of 1,116, completed within the total combined time of 118 minutes and 10 seconds (maximum time allowed 120 minutes).
IPC would like to thank Polygone CAO, who designed this year’s competition board in accordance with IPC-A-610H criteria and feature 116 components providing a significant challenge to contestants, resulting in only ten of 36 competitors completing the assembly within the time allotted.
IPC-A-610 Master Instructors from IPC licensed master training center in France (IFTEC) and in the Nertherlands (PIEK and ETECH), served as competition judges for this year’s competition.
IPC would like to thank Hand Soldering Competition sponsors for their generous support this year:
- Gold Sponsors: Hakko, Atelier Systems and Thalès.
- Silver Sponsors: Almit GmbH, Optilia, SFM-Société Française de Microscopie, and Polygone CAO
- Local Sponsors: IFTEC, PIEK and ETECH.
The Next HSC competition in Europe will be:
- Regional Competition in Germany will take place at Smtconnect in Nurenberg, Germany from May 10-12, 2022.
For more information on European hand soldering competitions, contact Philippe Leonard, IPC Europe director at PhilippeLeonard@ipc.org.
