Professional Development

Professional Development Courses at APEX EXPO 2025 will offer the highest-quality educational content delivered by experts in all areas of the electronics industry.  Participants in these courses will gain new knowledge and real-world skills that will equip them to rapidly respond to changing demands for new technologies, materials, and processes. As major world events impact supply chain and consumers’ demand for products and materials, APEX EXPO's Professional Development Courses offer a venue to learn about best practices, lessons learned from challenges in the field, cutting-edge technology, and trends with updated Standards.

This year’s professional development will include something for everyone, including informative courses catering to technical managers ready to level-up their careers.

Register now

Schedule subject to change.

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Professional Development Attendees

Advanced PCB Fabrication
PD09: PCB Design for High Reliability

Instructor: Paul Cooke, AGC
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

Paul Cooke

 

PD20: Ask the Flexperts Design Through Test with Lessons Learned

Instructors: Mark Finstad, Flexible Circuit Technologies
Nick Koop, TTM Technologies
Monday | March 16 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm
 

Assembly Test Manufacturing
PD03: Test Fixture Academy - How to Select Probes and Fixtures for ICT/FCT

Instructors: Instructors: Matthias Zapatka, INGUN USA
Travis Walker, INGUN USA
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

PD04: Troubleshooting and Process Optimization - Lessons Learned from the Trenches and a Decade of Board Talk' Part One
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Instructors: Jim Hall, ITM Consulting
Phil Zarrow, ITM Consulting
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

Jim Hall
Phil Zarrow
PD07: Principles and Practice of Developing Soldering (Reflow, Wave, and Selective)

Instructor: Ray Prasad, Ray Prasad Consultancy Group 
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

Ray Prasad
PD08: Conformal Coating 101 – Materials, Applications, and Methodologies

Instructor: Doug Pauls, ItDepends Electronics LLC 
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

 

Doug Pauls
PD10: Advanced Packaging for Chiplets and Heterogeneous Integration

Instructor: John Lau, Unimicron 
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 am

 

PD11: Troubleshooting and Process Optimization: Lessons Learned from the Trenches and a Decade of Board Talk, Part 2
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Instructors: Jim Hall, ITM Consulting
Phil Zarrow, ITM Consulting
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

 

Jim Hall
Phil Zarrow
PD13: The Reliability of the Electronic Assembly and Components as a Function of Assembly Cleanliness

Instructors: Mike Bixenman, Magnalytix 
Dr. Adam Klett, KYZEN Corp Vladimir Sitko, PBT-Works 
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm
 

PD15: Design and Assembly Process Challenges for Bottom Terminations Components (BTCs) such as QFN, DFN, and MLF in a Tin-Lead and Lead-Free World

Instructor: Ray Prasad, Ray Prasad Consultancy Group 
Monday | March 16 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

Ray Prasad
PD25: A Data-Driven Solder Paste Qualification Process

Instructor: Chrys Shea, Shea Engineering Services 
Thursday | March 19 | 8:00 am - 11:00 am

 

Chry Shea
Design & Simulation
PD01: Adapting and Engineering Model-Based PCB Design in Step with Sustainability and Digital Twins
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Instructor: Filbert Arzola, Raytheon 
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

PD16: Mitigating Risks in Wire Harness Design for Critical Systems

Instructor: Didem Üstün, FNSS Defense Systems 
Monday | March 16 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

PD18: Proactive Design Methods for Approaching Zero Field Failures
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Instructor: Louis Ungar, A.T.E. Solutions Inc. 
Monday | March 17 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

PD22: PCB Design Engineers' Introduction to High-Density Semiconductor Package Technologies: 2D, 2.5D, and 3D System-in-Packaging and Ultra-High-Density Hybrid Bond Interconnect
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Instructor: Vern Solberg, Solberg Tech
Thursday | March 19 | 8:00 am-11:00 am

 

Vern Solberg
Digital Manufacturing
PD06: Digital Manufacturing with IPC’s Factory of the Future Standards
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Instructors: Dr. Thomas Marktscheffel, Independent Consultant Feng Xue, IBM Systems Inc 
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

PD12: Artificial Intelligence and AI-Powered Electronics Manufacturing

Instructor: Dr. Jennie Hwang, H-Technologies GroupSystems Inc 
Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm

 

Jennie Hwan

PD19: AI Applications of Machine Data Analytics in the EMS Industry

Instructor: Dr. Tim Burke, Arch Systems
Monday | March 16 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

 

Tim Burke

PD24: Achieving Excellence in Electronics Manufacturing Through Industry 4.0

Instructor: Dr. Jose Servin, Schaeffler
Thursday | March 19 | 8:00 am - 11:00 am

Jose Servin


 

Materials
PD14: A Review of Current and Future PCB Final Finishes

Instructor: Dr. Frank Xu, MacDermid Alpha Electronics Solutions Sunday | March 15 | 1:30 pm-4:30 pm

 

PD17: Introduction to Advanced Packaging and Polymers Used in Advanced Packaging

Instructor: Dr. Jeffrey Gotro, InnoCentrix LLC 
Monday | March 16 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

Quality, Reliability, & Metrology
PD05: High-Reliability Electronics for Harsh Environments

Instructor: Dr. Jennie Hwang, H-Technologies GroupSystems Inc 
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am-12:00 pm

 

Jennie Hwan
PD21: Field Reliability of Microelectronics: Perspectives and Approaches Using Physics of Failure and Risk-Based Decision-Making

Instructor: Dr. Bhanu Sood, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center 
Thursday | March 19 | 8:00 am - 11:00 am

 

Bhanu Sood
Sustainability
PD02: Carbon Accounting for Semiconductors
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Instructors: Professor Udit Gupta, Cornell University 
Professor Gage Hills, Harvard University
Sunday | March 15 | 9:00 am - 12:00 pm

PD23: Implementation of IPC-1783 CO2 e for Carbon Footprint Calculations
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Instructor: Francis D'Souza, Banyan.eco
Thursday | March 19 | 8:00 am - 11:00 am