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50 PCB007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2025 Talk a bit about some of the work you have done in this space. Recently, I conducted custom training for opera- tions and laboratory staff at Triangle Labs, a PCB manufacturer in Carson City, Nevada. It was very well received, and the vice president of marketing and the op- erations team recognized that the train- ing would improve their operational ef- ficiency. It was a success story for both Triangle Labs and Advint. I've trained many early- career and other professionals. Most who have taken the Level Two electroplating training had either a master's degree or a PhD in chemistry, chemical engineering, or electrochemistry. They came from well-known organizations such as SpaceX, All Flex Solutions, Sandia National Labs, Molex, and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. So, they had an education but needed help to apply their knowledge to printed circuit board manufacturing operations. Advint is an excellent resource in this scenario. So, your training helps them become electroplat- ing specialists for advanced products? They're not just building a standard PCB. Yes, all the people and companies I work with are in advanced electronics manufacturing and PCBs, and their needs are unique. What SpaceX needs in its electroplating expertise and operations, for example, is different from Triangle Labs. The most common ones we work with are ENIS, ENIG, and ENEPIG. These dominate in high-reliability ap- plications. But they also come with their share of challenges, especially in process control. Given what you do, do you consider yourself an expert on advanced materials? Yes, as far as electroplating is concerned, I have electrodeposited metals with all the technologies that have been or are in practice in the industry since electroplating began, whether it's high-tem- perature ionic liquid, aqueous electrolytes, elec- trolytic and electroless, and PVD (physical vapor deposition), on many different types of materials. Do you customize your training for each organization? Absolutely. We don't offer one-size-fits-all training as standard. It wouldn't be valuable to these compa- nies. I do thorough due diligence. We identify who we are training, how many participants will take part, their current qualifications, credentials, and experi- ence levels, along with deep industry and company information on their metal plating operations and requirements for the products they build. Based on these factors, we develop custom con- tent and deliver the training onsite. Each individual and application faces their own unique challenges. Even then, there will always be a gap between what we assume an individual knows and what is actually known once training begins. However, we can adapt our curriculum content on the fly. We work very hard to ensure the companies and individuals we collaborate with receive exactly what they need. As we progress through the training, we focus on identifying the real-life issues they encounter. We visit the plant, examine their equipment, products, process documentation, and process controls. For example, some major challenges in the PCB industry include adhesion problems between the nickel and gold plating layers, copper deposit uniformity on high-aspect ratio through-hole plating, and, naturally, voids and skip plating. We identify all such issues and use these real-world scenarios to teach the solutions. We explore the reasons behind these oc- currences and the underlying theories or concepts. They need to understand these issues thoroughly, not just how to fix them. Bringing the training back to those real things that you are struggling with in your shop is next- level value. Tell me about your new certification program. Yes, starting this month, we are offering a formal Venkat Raja