IPC International Community magazine an association member publication
Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1497169
IPC COMMUNITY 38 SPRING 2023 Putting Boots on the Ground I am based in Mexico City and my experience in various professional roles with global brands has positioned me to accelerate IPC's strategy development and understanding of Mexico's electronics manufacturing needs—both Mex- ico's common goals in a global market, as well as its unique challenges. We have found there's a lot of work to be done on "re-educating" the local industry on the difference between cer- tification and training and seeing workforce training as an investment rather than just an expense. With its strong foundation based on IPC standards and certification, the IPC Edu- cation Team began months of intense relationship building as well as market research and analy- sis. The results were immediate. Through our in-person, social media, and marketing activities, we were flooded with messages from companies and individuals interested in knowing more about IPC Mexico, learning about our specialized training courses, and understanding our certification programs and industry standards. We launched several pilot programs with key members and nonmembers of IPC, such B o t h B e n c h m a r k a n d C o n t i n e n- t a l are members. Our objective was for them to achieve bet- te r q u a l i t y, l owe r c o s t s , and improve productiv- ity through training— something obvious, but not so popular. We met with the lead- ership teams, human resources, and train- i n g l e a d e r s ; w a l ke d with their operations, quality, and engineer- ing teams; and had cof- fee and cookies with the operators. We walked the floor and listened to people, hoping to understand their needs and Carlos Plaza, IPC senior director of education development, Lorena Villanueva, and Antonio Velazquez, director of Aerocluster of Queretaro, at the Queretaro Aerospace Conference in September 2022. There are nearly 140 IPC member companies with facilities in Mexico.