Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1038326
OCTOBER 2018 I PCB007 MAGAZINE 61 connected that way. They were look- ing for younger staff to have on hand, mostly to specialize in areas like au- tomation, drills, lamination…things like that." Now Jalbert works on automa- tion equipment, "My job is anything AWP-related. That was kind of the route I was aiming for—control sys- tems and robotics. It was a perfect fit." MacKinnon added, "John Olson [former Whelen CEO] graduated from UNH. The Whelen and Olson fami- lies put a lot of money into UNH pro- grams. Whelen always comes to UNH career fairs." Training But turning new grads into industry experts requires on-site experience and training—lots of training. Asked what it's like to work with the in- dustry veterans, Jalbert answers, "I think it's a great opportunity. I like working with peo- ple like Mark Chassé, Alex Stepinski, John Burke—people who have a lot of experience in this industry. They know what they're do- ing, and I can always go to them if I need help with anything." "I've been in the metallization, plating, and electronics industry for 30 years this summer," said Chassé. "It's been an exciting ride. The regional rep from Atotech worked with me on my first job 30 years ago. He knew that Alex was looking for some talent. It's a really good fit." Cross-training is a priority as well. Asked if he works exclusively on machinery, Jalbert said, "I do some of the software, too, at least with the automation equipment. I go back and forth. With software, I have an idea what needs to happen, so when I need software fixed, I can go to these companies and say, 'This is what I need done. I've looked at the code; this is what's missing. Please fix it.'" Ask Chassé his thoughts on passing his knowl- edge to the next generation and he replies. "The day I stop learning will be a bad day. These young guys are brilliant. They've been given tools—I'm not quite sure how to ex- plain it—and they approach problems differ- ently just because of when they went through school," said Chassé. "They're taught differ- ently, taught to go through computers. I didn't touch a computer until I was 30 years old," he laughed. "Their mindset and approach to automation is really something. These young- er guys are different than me. It's just because of their training and their youth. It's profound- ly good. So, I learn from them, and hopefully, I can teach them something." Crystal LaClair, a quality manager and sev- en-year employee at Whelen, is in a different place on the learning curve. In her role, she's in charge of creating, documenting, and vali- dating many of the brand-new processes, us- ing brand-new equipment, to get everyone pro- duction-ready. When asked what it's like to work with the older industry veterans, she said, "I pick these guys' brains all the time and they challenge me even more. They come at the younger group and they ask, 'What do you guys think?' be- cause we have a different perspective on things. We ease into technology faster than the previous generation. And the next generation is going to do the same, so I think it's very co- hesive for us to work together. Then, at the Figure 3: Cassie MacKinnon, GreenSource Fabrication process engineer, runs certifications on the proX3 tester as a part of bringing all systems on-line.