BANNOCKBURN, IL – Fu Chunyan of Beijing Railway Signal Co. won first place in the first IPC World Championship hand soldering competition. 

Nine contestants, including victors from IPC hand soldering competitions in India, China and the US, were challenged with building a functional electronics assembly within a one-hour time limit. The assemblies were judged in accordance with IPC-A-610E Class 3 criteria, production speed and overall electrical functionality.

Chunyan won a $1,000 cash prize, a new Metcal soldering station, a Mantis inspection system and a Sovella ESD footrest.

Second place went to Viengkeo (Gail) Sourivongs of Imperial Electronic Assembly. Third place went to Wang He of Changchun Institute of Optics.

In the IPC Apex Expo Hand Soldering Competition that preceded the world championship, first place, $500 and a Sovella ESD footrest went to Katie Chanla from Imperial Electronic Assembly. Second place and $250 was won by Laurie Stilwell, also from Imperial Electronic Assembly, while Penny Mendez took third place and a $100 cash prize.

Sponsors for the event included Metcal, Alpha, EPTAC and PACE and included the support of Vision Engineering and Sovella Treston.

Hand soldering competitions are planned for Malaysia, Korea and Thailand in the coming months. For more information, visit www.ipc.org/hsc.