Last month, RBB employees Steve Baker and Tim Crossland joined technicians, engineers, and quality technicians at the IPC Training center located at AP Solutions in Cleveland to learn from Master IPC Trainer, Benny Mostella Jr. The sole goal of the two-day workshop they attended was to train and qualify attendees to become Certified IPC Trainers (CIT).
The IPC Training and Certification program provides an industry traceable, IPC-sponsored program to help support the continuous improvement of product quality and reliability. All employees who impact electronics assembly are trained on a regular basis using IPC training programs. RBB has been rigorously applying the IPC-610 standards since their inception.
Guest Blogger and RBB Engineer, Steve Baker reflects back on the recent Instructor Training experience.
As Certified IPC Trainers, Tim and I are authorized to conduct IPC-A-610 Application Specialist Training. Employees (students) who completed the required training and received a passing grade are issued a two-year, Certified IPC Specialist certificate.
After training, the Certified IPC Specialist is able to recognize and inspect to the Electronic Manufacturing standards of Class 1,2 and Class 3.
They are also able to navigate through the IPC-A-610 book of Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies and apply the requirements.
This training also helps employees to provide feedback on improving the manufacturing process and improve reliability and customer satisfaction.
How IPC Training Improves Manufacturing:
- Adherence to Industry Standards: The IPC-A-610 training provides each employee a standardized set of industry developed and approved method for the manufacturing of Electronic assemblies.
- Accept/Reject Thresholds: IPC-A-610 also provides the understanding of the Accept/Reject criteria for components and finished assemblies.
- Quality Control: With this training each employee along the manufacturing process is ableto make sure the customer is provided with the highest quality components assembled to the Industry approved standard and customer's expectations.
This means the employees use the IPC-A-610 guidelines to perform the following tasks:
- Individual components are inspected in receiving.
- Components are handled and stored in the proper method.
- Components are assembled and inspected consistent with the Industry approved standard.
- Data gathered through this process is provided to the customer/designer to improve manufacturability which lowers cost to the end user.
For many years, these rigorous standards have been applied to each step of the manufacturing process, and our customers receive a better quality and consistent product. How do you improve your manufacturing processes for your customers?
For over 30 years, Steve has been a part of the RBB family in positions ranging from Service Manager, Testing Manager, Quality Manager and various engineering roles. Steve also enjoys problem solving, traveling, farming, amateur radio, collecting antique radios and leisurely walks to the refrigerator.