What to Expect at the 2007 Fleck Connection Congress

The 19th annual Fleck Connection Congress will address the latest technology, business and market trends impacting the industry as well as the overall global economy and competitive landscape.

How are economic conditions and the global economy affecting the interconnect industry? What is the impact to our consumption locally?

Some of the Topics will include:

• An overview of 2,400 product design types, market trends and technology trends impacting connectors, cable assemblies and backplanes.
  
  
• An overview of the interconnect industry by region of the world.
  
  
• Performance for 2007, forecast for 2008 and five years forward to 2011.
  
  
• Trend to EMS, ODM & OEMs and Impact on Manufacturers' Customer Account Base
  
  
• Growth of Production in China and India -- and Consumption in China and India
  
  
• The increased complexity, know-how and design capability in China
  
  
• Price Erosion over past five years and future expectations
  
  
• Manufacturers are proceeding with Vertical Integration
  
  
• Consolidation & Acquisition changing the industry
  
  
• Trends in High Bandwidth / High Speed connectors
  
  
• New boards and backplanes for VXS (VITA-41), VPX (VITA-46), VPX-REDI (VITA-48), AdvancedTCA, CompactTCA and CompactPCI form factors
  
  
• High-speed Serial Technologies and boards that incorporate serial RapidIO, InfiniBand, Gigabit Ethernet, and others
  
  
• Trends in Packaging, such as SOP, QFP, PGA, BGA, LGA
  
  
• The impact of new Packaging Technologies. The connector industry obviously must keep current on advanced packaging trends such as Flip Chip, Wire Bonds, Solder Balls, Phone Chipsets, etc. The importance of the semiconductor industry to the $41 billion interconnect industry is that $32 billion of the interconnect world is driven by semiconductors.
  
  
• Technology Roadmaps of the chip makers and the impact on the connector industry. Trends in peripheral leads versus under-package balls -- High-density pin-pitch trends, 1.27mm down to 0.5mm -- Trends in I/O count, 775 to over 2000 -- Interposer trends -- Wafer-level packaging -- Bare die attachment.
  
  
• Manufacturers of cell phones, iPods and other portable equipment using multichip packages, wafer stack packages as well as package on package to save board space and reduce component count.
  
  
• Requirements for Fine Pitch connectors Increasing
  
  
• Serial Interfaces expanding rapidly
  
  
• Wireless driving growth
  
  
• Auto Electronics driving growth for connectors with increasing electronic content
  • Will flex circuit or woven cable assemblies increase in application?
  • Will there be a greater shift to pin/socket connectors from blade connectors?
  • To what degree is there shift to Pin Pitches below 5.08mm, such as 2.54mm or 1.27mm?
  • How quickly will Smart Connectors be utilized in the auto sector?
  • How is the industry responding to demand for Telematics?
  • What is the projection on the use of FAKRA connectors?
  • What is impact of technology for Hybrid / Electric cars?
  
  
• Digital Connectivity Trends for In-vehicle Systems
  
  
• Military / Aerospace continues to be a sector of growth
  
  
• COTS and ROHS versus today's military and aerospace requirements for wire and cable, as well as the impact it has on the connector
  
  
• Aircraft Avionics and what the Aircraft Electronics industry expects of connector manufacturers. Is there any necessity to provide products from low-cost regions like Mexico and Asia. Are technology trends such as Fiber Optic having an impact on the copper side of the interconnect industry? What are the impacts of Modular Manufacturing Practices such as that used on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner? Would there be an increase in the interconnect content?
  
  
• RF and EMI suppression and Filtering in connectors, and the technical problems and challenges that are faced when converting from commercial to aerospace or military industries.
  
  
• Consumer Electronics driving growth, Supply Chain Management and related topics.
  
  
• Datacom / Networks still experiencing a slow recovery
  
  
• Telecom recovery is slow
  
  
• Medical sector strong with double-digit growth
  
  
• Medical connectors and cable assemblies and the expectations by medical equipment manufacturers -- new technology trends that will have an impact on the interconnect -- as well as requirements for FDA approvals.
  
  
• Distribution becoming more important
  
  
• Supporting the $7.1 billion worldwide DTAM and the $2.7 billion North America DTAM -- Globalization -- Consolidation -- Distribution in Asia and China -- India poised for big explosion -- Business issues faced by the industry.
  
  
• The Fiber Optic industry -- topics such as Price Erosion in fiber optics, the increased demand for Bandwidth driving fiber optics such as Fiber to the Home, Video and the overall perception of the fiber optic marketplace, and its race with copper.
  
  
• Harsh environment and hostile environment connectors and cable assemblies, and the demand and technology requirements by the OEMs. Impacts on the connector industry with regard to underwater, downhole, geophysical exploration sites, subsea wellhead systems, offshore platforms, rapid transit, nuclear applications, as well as military sectors of TOWS, submarines, hydrostatic pressure, undersea applications.
  
  
• What is the impact of continued high oil prices on the connector industry? How are manufacturers dealing with continuous increase of material and transportation costs?
  
  
• How is the industry being impacted by increased environment awareness and alternative energy sources and the equipment required to support solar power, wind power, hybrid vehicles, etc.

Register Online Now to attend the 2007 Fleck Connection Congress, which will be held in Las Vegas on October 4 and 5. You may also call us at 714-953-9000.

The main conference sessions start on Thursday, October 4 and continue on the morning of Friday, October 5 with complimentary continental breakfast buffet on both days. Also on Friday, in the afternoon, Interconnect Workshops will be presented on technology trends and market issues. The gala reception with food, drink, music and raffle as well as the golf awards presentation will be on Thursday evening.