Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1491409
52 SMT007 MAGAZINE I FEBRUARY 2023 Johnson: Is it effective to have some of the staff start training on specifics, particularly AOI? If the customer wants to start training on that before it arrives, can they get training from you while they're waiting for the machine to be delivered? Nemeth: Sometimes we do that, but it's not as common; if they want to come to us for a week or two of training, maybe. For the install, that's possible. We've done that. We don't want the time to be too long between when the machine arrives and when it's installed, because it's easy to forget things. Sometimes customers will have the machine installed and they'll come for training the week aer. We've done some of that as well. ey don't want to do it on site because of the things that happen in man- u f a c t u r i n g , where the peo- ple that are dedicated to it get pulled away. Training onsite c a n b e a c h a l - lenge, but the over- whelming majority of the training that we do is onsite, so we have to find a way to deal with those challenges. Johnson: In that case, do you have a prefer- ence? Is it better overall for the customer if the training is done on at your facility vs. at the customer site? Nemeth: I always think that it's better for the technicians and engineers to be at one of our facilities so they're able to retain what they learn and have the chance to really dive into the work without distractions. Normally, it's not logistically possible to do that with most of our customers, though, so we have to deal with the challenges of onsite training. Some places are good at it; for other places it's a real chal- lenge. It's a mixed bag, but most of the work is done onsite. Sometimes customers want to come later for that second week of training, or they may have some additional training that they want to do with other programmers or technicians. In that case, we suggest that they come to us if they can; the training classes run every month, but we can only accommodate so many people. ere are only so many classes in a year or in each quarter so, like I said, the major- ity is done onsite, but we like to do it in-house when we can. J o h n s o n : Th e o n g o i n g i n - house training gives your cus- tomers a chance to send staff later. If, for example, the person that received the equipment and the initial training got promoted or shied to a different job or something like that, customers can still train somebody new by sending them to your course. Nemeth: We train people all the time that move on or move up; it's one of the biggest chal- lenges. e number one request we get on a regular basis is about additional training for new people. We'd like them to come to the office for those classes when they can.