Northbrook, IL, April 10, 2002 -- IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced the creation of the Photonics Manufacturers Association (PMA) Council, a newly formed IPC council which plans to organize and coordinate roadmapping, standardization, legislative, market research and education efforts within the photonics industry.
"The formation of the PMA Council was a result of a strong grassroots initiative to both organize and accelerate standardization efforts in the photonics industry," said Randy Heyler, PMA Council steering committee chairman and Newport Corporation's vice president of business development. "It was widely felt that not only OEMs, but the entire supply chain could benefit from a more formal and coordinated effort to establish more industry wide roadmaps and standards to address universal manufacturing cost issues.
"By forming the PMA Council within IPC, we can immediately access a well-established industry trade association infrastructure. IPC provides the combination of an official standards body, along with other important industry trade association activities, such as market measurement and legislative contacts, enabling the PMA Council to rapidly address our priorities across several fronts."
The PMA Council held its first organizational meeting at the Optical Fiber Conference, March 17-22, 2002, in Anaheim, Calif. Interested attending companies came from several industry segments, including OEM, component suppliers, production equipment and service providers.
The Council is currently assembling a 10-member steering committee and searching for senior management and executive level volunteers to serve on its proposed Roadmapping; Standards Guidelines and Specifications; and Industry Statistics subcommittees.
Once assembled, the Council's Roadmapping Subcommittee will support, interpret and amplify existing IPC, NEMI, OIDA and SIA roadmap efforts in order to generate roadmaps specifically designed for assembly, test and standardization of optoelectronic devices and modules.
The Standards Guidelines and Specifications Subcommittee will distill roadmap contents into areas requiring standardization efforts, assist in prioritizing key standards generation efforts and promote current standards initiatives and activities, including the IPC-STD-040, Optoelectronic Assembly and Packaging Technology, an "umbrella" document which provides a roadmap for optoelectronics standards.
Coordinating data collection and reporting key industry statistics to PMA Council members will be the goals of the Industry Statistics Subcommittee.
"We saw a win-win opportunity here," said IPC President Denny McGuirk. "IPC's existing membership base was already asking for Photonics programming. The IPC Board agreed that supporting the formation of the PMA Council would help IPC fulfill these requests and provide growth opportunities for the organization."
"The interest in the PMA Council is clear," added David Bergman, IPC vice president of standards, technology and international relations. "The standards development is on a fast track, thanks to the significant volunteer contributions by industry experts. We see this effort expanding into the other subcommittee efforts, as the PMA Council helps IPC bring trade association services to the industry."
PMA Council membership is free to IPC members. For more information about becoming a member of IPC and the PMA Council, contact Jeanette Ferdman, IPC director of membership, at 847-790-5309 or mailto:[email protected].
IPC is a U.S.-based trade association dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its more than 2,600 member companies which represent all facets of the electronic interconnection industry, including design, printed wiring board manufacturing and electronics assembly. As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of a $44 billion U.S. industry employing more than 400,000 people.
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