Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1535954
Beyond that ecosystem, how will you grow that base? Will you connect with universities or tech schools? We've already signed with local learn- ing institutions that have embraced our training center to help them dif- ferentiate their students. They will get to be that person coming out of col- lege with a certification to either IPC- A-610, IPC-A-600, or another IPC stan- dard. It's a differentiator that helps this young kid get hired. Maybe they can't do inspection at a senior level, but they're familiar with the terminology, the technology, and the environment of inspecting. They know where to find the specs and standards. Because they're familiar with it, they can go into their first or second job or re-emerge in the industry with more skills. We'll show them some auto- mated tools, like the ASTER TestWay Express and the Siemens Valor tool. There are different solutions that allow us to show the stronger features that are out there. Training is often not an investment companies want to make. They think it's cheaper to do in-house training. Is there a case where you can save money by going to an outside service like yours? All outside training institutions are updated to the latest rules and tech- nology. They're in the committee meet- ings, learning the differences between the revs of A-610 or A-600, and the idio- syncrasies between the two. It may be cheaper to do it in-house, but that doesn't always make it better. If you're looking for quality bang for the buck, whether you're going for those training institutions like an EPTAC or another one, you can be assured they're in the know. They train; that's what they do. You have a CID in-house, and that person might be very confident as a trainer, but the trainers have to be trained; there is a certification for them too. More or less, you will be training all the CIDs, or you're training in the test- ing here to do certain things. Technology is moving at such an accelerated pace. It must be a chal- lenge to keep pace, thus the greater need for training. How does your team do that? We have two different companies here, but we talk to each other. We come with many years of industry experi- ence. We see the latest and greatest from the big companies. We also see what's coming out of the mil/aero, automotive, medical, and high-reliabil- ity requirements. We can stay in tune with where the industry's going. We're not walking to the left while the rest of the industry's going to the right. The Test Connection gives us some vision into industry requirements and needs. You're really making a good case that it's a broad vision, because of the differ- ent markets that are your customers. We had one class where I taught design for test. I had students from a med- ical company and a mil/aero com- pany—one saves lives, and the other one takes lives, so to speak. You can joke about that, but a quality inspec- tor at a company like Defense Con- tractor may look at things slightly differently than an inspector from a medical company, but they're still look- ing for the same basic problems as one of the big automo- tive companies. The Test Connection gives us some vision into industry requirements and needs. " "