Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1433652
14 SMT007 MAGAZINE I DECEMBER 2021 perience about knowledge acquisition and re- taining information, and built this into a pro- gram that meets the industry driven job-spe- cific needs of workers across a broad range of industry roles and skill levels. So basically, very, very quickly you can onboard somebody and get them productive. en there are other programs as well, spe- cifically geared toward engineers. We have new programs offered to those who might not know anything about an assembly operation. We can give them 30 to 40 hours of online content that helps them get grounded in how various parts of the electronics manufacturing process works. Oen the industry just relies on shad- owing to provide this kind of education which is not very consistent and sometimes doesn't happen at all. With this program, they learn and can also keep going back to that informa- tion for a refresher, if needed, when something new comes up. One of the programs, Electron- ics Assembly for Engineers (EAE), has been very well received. At APEX EXPO, we will share more information about EAE and other courses under development, and I am very ex- cited about that. Matties: When we start looking at inflation, when material input costs started to rise, a lot of the fabricators just compressed and did not pass those on. But you can only do that so long and inflation is not transitory as it turns out. It's here, and it's going to be here. Mitchell: Yes. If you're spending much more on hiring the individuals that are building your materials, then that cost must get accounted for somewhere. Matties: Right. And it's not just the labor, as we know. It's the cost of raw materials and other input cost. Mitchell: Exactly. Chips, parts, materials, trans- portation, everything. e costs have gone up just about everywhere. Matties: Are there any strategies or programs to help the fabricators look at how to be more efficient, lowering their costs to help combat the inflation that's happening?