The Value of Investing in Employees – Institutional Demand to Invest in PCB Repair Training Courses
The electronics manufacturing industry keeps churning out impressive devices and appliances every year. They’re even investing in their own training facilities by creating tools that make PCB manufacturing and electronics assembly processes much easier, more efficient, and free from human errors. Although technology can obviously boost a manufacturing company’s productivity, at its heart is still the workforce. Without good soldering professionals or assembly operators, the technologically advanced tools the industry creates will fail to make significant impacts on the market.
Manufacturing units consist of two types of factories – the factory of machines and the factory of human operators. Advanced machines may allow manufacturing managers to track, monitor, and control supply lines. But, the factory of human operators who are in charge of handling these devices will always be the main asset of any manufacturing company. That’s why investing in these workers and equipping them with more advanced skills is highly important for any manufacturing firm. The operators who build products and technologies aren’t getting the attention they need from their employers.
The Demand for Better Skills
Sales and business development professionals enter the employment market with expensive degrees. They don’t need to re-certify their skills every few years. However, for soldering professionals, PCB manufacturing operators, and other members of the electronics assembly industry, re-certification and re-training are extremely important and mandatory in some cases. For instance, any certification from the Institute of Printed Circuits (IPC) is only applicable for two years. After two years, all soldering professionals, PCB manufacturing operators, etc., must apply for re-certification.
The IPC recognizes the market demand for better-skilled workers. In a 2019 IPC survey involving some of the leading manufacturing companies of the world, it was revealed that recruiting highly skilled soldering professionals, PCB manufacturing operators, etc., was the main industry challenge for manufacturing companies. 33% of the responding companies stated that the lack of highly skilled workers would be the main industry challenge in the next decade. According to them, the key roadblocks in their road to future growth are –
- Workforce issues
- Tariffs
- Regulatory issues
- Component shortages
- Trade-related costs
Manufacturing companies can’t do much about four of these five issues. Tariffs, regulatory challenges, trade-related expenses, and component shortages are all problems that are out of their control. However, they can address the industry’s biggest concern about the lack of trained and IPC-certified professionals by investing in PCB Repair Training Courses. Surprisingly, in the same survey, 87% of the responding companies said they have a positive outlook about the manufacturing industry’s future. That suggests there are opportunities aplenty for soldering professionals, PCB manufacturing operators, etc. They only need the right training and guidance from IPC-certified educators.
Cost of Quality
When manufacturing industries invest in training their employees and helping them receive their IPC certifications, they pay for quality. The quality these training provide to workers help manufacturing companies avoid
- Failures – Defective PCBs, improper soldering, non-compliant way of manufacturing, etc. All of these ‘failures’ can be avoided if manufacturing companies’ workforces were better trained.
- Appraisal Costs – With a highly trained workforce, there’s no need for manufacturing companies to invest in PCB inspection, product audits, advanced tests, etc.
- Prevention Costs – Manufacturing companies have to spend a lot of their budgets on prevention. Prevention is the effort to ensure initial manufacturing processes run perfectly, and there are no errors. Again, with a highly trained workforce, there won’t be any need for manufacturing companies to invest heavily in prevention efforts.
Still don’t think the investment in IPC-certified training is justifiable? Consider this example
- Let’s assume 95% yields results in 5% of defective units (usually, the percentage of defective units is higher in standard PCB manufacturing processes).
- If there are 1000 units being manufactured, 95% yields result in 50 defective units.
- If each unit costs $100, the manufacturing company pays $5000 for defective products.
- Usually, manufacturing companies spend more than just $5000 on defective units. Still, $5000 is much higher than what IPC-certified training programs cost.
By increasing the number of certifications professionals receive, manufacturing companies can prevent initial failures, cut down field failures, and gain significant returns on their investments in training programs.
IPC Certification – Countless Benefits
IPC certification programs are industry traceable. If your soldering and electronics assembly professionals are IPC-certified, they’ll find it easier to collaborate with other IPC-certified professionals from other companies. Giving workers re-certification is also a great way for companies to test the skills of their workforces. As workers learn how to perform to IPC-defined standards, their skills and output will naturally increase.
Manufacturing companies could do with such improvements in their workforces’ skills. The consumer electronics market is booming and full of opportunities. Just the eCommerce segment is expected to rise to a valuation of $548.4 billion by 2023. Hence, there are countless opportunities for manufacturing companies. The companies with the best-trained workforces will thrive during this period.