Kurtz Ersa North America, a leading supplier of electronics production equipment, congratulates the 16 competitors that participated in the Hand Soldering Competition Championship on November 17 during the recently held productronica exhibition in Munich.

Kurtz Ersa is a gold sponsor of the IPC ­– Association Connecting Electronics Industries popular Hand Soldering Competition.

In the world championship competition, 16 competitors representing their countries and companies came from China, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Korea, Malaysia, Poland, Russia, Thailand, United Kingdom and Vietnam. The competition was vigorous for the grand prize of €1000 and the title of IPC Hand Soldering World Champion.

Taking the title of hand soldering champion was Zhang Yi, China, Chengdu #10 institute with a functional board and score of 473 out of a possible 500. Second place went to Vu Thi Xuan, Vietnam, 2 UMC, with a functional board and score of 458; and third place went to Hasrol Mizom Hosson, Malaysia.

Assemblies were judged on soldering in accordance with IPC-A-610F Class 3 criteria, the speed at which the assembly was produced and overall electrical functionality of the assembly. IPC-A-610 Master Instructors from IPC licensed master training centers served as the judges. The MIT judges were from China, Estonia, France, Holland and the United States.

For more information about Kurtz Ersa North America, visit www.ersa.com.