Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1523387
28 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JULY 2024 Johnson: Do you shift the mix of training on your floor as the portfolio changes, say, for example, you're doing a lot more space addendum work, so you certify more staff to that? Yes, if we need to, but you may not always get a project that calls out to be space certified. Rather, most projects will call out being Class 3-certified, so that's where we focus most of our attention. For the space addendum, you need some quality technicians and inspectors who know what they're looking at. But you don't have to load up and give everyone that cert. Matties: Charlie, what else should we be talking about regarding certifications? What's important to know? From an EMS standpoint, you should have your operators certified to IPC-J-STD-001, or at least IPC-A-600. If you're not willing to go there, then it depends on the sector you're working in and your focus. If you want to move into aerospace and military, like everyone says they want to, this is your first step. You've got to get certified, man. You've got to have the goods. Matties: On my walkthrough with you, you told me about a customer that was having their boards built somewhere else, but their yield was really low, so they came to you. It seems directly related to why it's important to have your staff certified. Can you tell that story again? Yes, but let's go back to some of the first certifications I got when I was a young designer. I thought CID was a good starting point, so I did the training and got that certification. About a year later, I got the CID+, which is a little more detailed. From a design standpoint, it's important to know what you're doing and about the physical properties of the designs and materials. Anyone can learn a CAD system; pushing the buttons and hooking a board up doesn't mean it will work in the real world. CID and CID+ are pretty important certifications for design personnel. ey are the one thing that will help a designer secure a job much quicker than someone who has been designing boards for 15, 20, or 30 years and never took the time to hone their skills. Now, to this customer that came in. ey had a board, and they produced about 1,000 to 1,500 of them a month. It was a medical device with an 80% yield, meaning there was about 20% fallout, which is not a good number. It wasn't even about the expense. e issue is the 20% fallout. A lot of people would think there's just something wrong with this particular EMS company, such as the humidity or the solder. ey were coming up with all these excuses. But I looked at the design and knew exactly what the problem was. I said, "I can fix this," and explained that I would redesign the board and guarantee a 100% yield on the first run. I would do it at no charge. So, we redesigned the board, did a first run, and got 100% yield. ey were shocked. We gained a customer, and we're still building those boards. We do about 2,000 of them per month with a 100% yield every time. Matties: When I first heard this, I was impressed that your experience as both a designer and in manufacturing made a big