Last month I had the opportunity to attend APEX in San Diego. Normally, I average about one show per year, so I have a sense that I won’t be seeing much new. At Apex, I decided to be a little more aggressive in introducing myself and pursuing the needs of my company. As it turns out this was a good plan.
It all started the moment I entered the show. Walking down the aisle I almost literally ran into John Meyer. John had recently retired from Methode Automotive and I was surprised to see him. He proudly displayed his badge that indicated his company in all caps, “RETIRED”. He introduced me to his replacement at Methode. We chatted and reopened our long relationship. A real pleasure.
I had planned to meet the team from iBtest. iBtest is sort of a mirror image of IQ. They operate out of Guadalajara and Monterrey Mexico offering test engineering services, but focus mainly on Keysight ICT. We, of course focus on Teradyne ICT. Perhaps we could complement one another. We met at the Ingun booth. Both iBtest and IQ routinely use Ingun fixtures and accessories. We migrated to a quiet area where we could discuss a relationship. iBtest reinforced what we already knew. In Mexico a local presence is critically important. We end up with an invitation to Monterrey in March.
After parting, I wandered to the IPTE booth. Meeting the IPTE folks was on my agenda. IPTE provides in-line board handling equipment. They have recently been successful in Europe integrating the SMH FlashRunner to their handler to create an in-line programming station. As the US distributors for SMH, IQ has been providing programming stations and SMH tech support for several years. Like with any complex discipline there can be a steep learning curve with production programming. IQ is mostly up the steep part. We see a significant growth opportunity in automated programming stations, so I really wanted to introduce IQ to IPTE. Introductions went well. I met with the US General Manager and one of the Principals from Belgium. They suggested they were looking for third party suppliers who could support programming and functional test. I am thinking I should keep in touch.
Later I found myself at the Checksum booth. There I met with John VanNewkirk, the company president. We chatted first about hiking in the Cascades. John was familiar with the places I had visited. I shared my story about the old men on Aasgard Pass at night. Turning to business, John quizzed me on my knowledge of Checksum. I responded with the conventional knowledge that Checksum offered a competitive MDA system with an integral press down unit. John shared that my knowledge was correct, but dated. Today, Checksum is focused on adding parallel functional test. Really? I thought. And I responded that would mean multiple voltmeters, current meters, signal sources and lots of DIO. Yes, John said and that is what Checksum is doing. Not muxing, but multiple parallel instrumentation. The target is small controls in large panels. Providing parallel functional test for large panels clearly addresses a large and untapped market. John implied that given our background perhaps IQ and Checksum could work together.
As I roamed around the show I realized there was a theme here. In line, high volume, large panels. Then I remembered I had an appointment with Keysight. I scooted over to the hotel where Keysight had a conference room. On entry I was greeted by a dozen or so Keysight sales folks. They had requested a presentation of FlashRunner High Speed (FR-HS) technology. In preparation I had received from SMH their preliminary demo unit. But before I addressed the -HS, I wanted to be sure everybody was up to speed on FR2.0 and FRTools. So I brought out my demo pieces and explained each item before passing them around for touch and feel. This was a good move as indicated by the questions that followed.
Then I did the FR-HS presentation and shared the demo units around. We talked a lot about the 32 channel capability with the remote USB-C driver PODs providing great high speed signal integrity. Finally I shared that they could expect a March product release.
Before parting I directed our dialog to the desire on the part of IQ to work closely with Keysight. Keysight has introduced the i1000 Flexicore system. The Flexicore can provide inline ICT, Functional and Flashing. Keysight has selected the FlashRunner as the programming engine and was showing an in-line programming station on the APEX floor. We talked some about IQ’s capabilities and I had a sense that what we could offer was appreciated. I was encouraged to spend an adequate period inspecting the Flexicore at their booth.
Later I did visit the booth. I had already studied the Flexicore literature. But seeing and touching the system was still worthwhile. While at the booth we talked about using FR-HS to make the machine sing.
There were multiple other visits. The folks from Ingun were most generous. My meeting with Signify provide both sides good info.
Overall my take has to be we need to pay attention to the theme.
Posted by Admin 
Intrinsic Quality LLC 