Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/612684
18 The PCB Magazine • December 2015 little bit differently, because we've been asked by the industry to move faster. Electronics tech- nology is an ever-evolving technology. It's con- stantly changing. With the most popular stan- dards, our industry members have asked us to shorten the development time frame. We're looking to shorten the coming standards de- velopment process to about a three-year period so we can stay aggressive—any faster than that and you run into some issues. Goldman: On approvals and issues like that? Mitchell: Exactly. If you're building something and the revision changes before you can build the product, that's a problem. We're looking to get it down to about a three-year period. That's one of the changes we're looking to do. The second goal, the "E" in IPC's aspirational goal acronym, stands for education. Right now, IPC training and certification allows industry to connect with expertise and knowledge and build valuable relationships in the process. We have a lot of partners around the world and do some of the training ourselves. The training takes the individual and matches them up with a standard and makes sure that they under- stand the standard themselves. To date, nearly 100 IPC-authorized training centers worldwide have trained and certified more than 250,000 individuals at thousands of companies across the globe. On the education front, we try to make sure the individual understands the standard. We've taken that concept and about a year and a half ago we started our validation services program, which is actually then taking the next step and looking at the companies. Seeing that they not only have the individuals who know the stan- dards, but that they are actually capable of pro- ducing products in accordance with the stan- dards. IPC QML (qualified manufacturer list- ing) certification helps a manufacturer improve supply chain management and this can lead to an elevated company profile within the indus- try. Those are a couple of examples of our edu- cation focus. Goldman: Much more falls under education, doesn't it? Mitchell: Yes, and you're going to see more from us in terms of online training. We're look- ing to support the need for skills-based training. We've partnered with some other associations, like the ESD association, to develop online training for ESD. Again, the idea behind every- thing that we're doing is to take the overall cost to the company, and if we can lower that for the industry by doing common things for the industry as a whole, that's what we want to get involved in. Anything to help the industry save money, be more efficient, be smarter, etc. You might see some online offerings coming out from IPC to help train, not necessarily certifica- tion to the standards, but other alternatives to help the technicians and operators on the line perform better at their jobs. Goldman: Is your video department still doing multimedia? Mitchell: Yes, our multimedia department is still very active. We'll be incorporating and uti- lizing some of what we have, and creating some new things as well into our multimedia and on- line video training products. So that's some of what's coming in the education space. Our third aspirational goal, the "A," is advo- cacy. There are numerous government regula- tions that affect our industry in this country, in Europe, in Beijing, etc. Our government rela- tions staff continually monitors proposed leg- islation, regulations and rules by governments and agencies around the world. They actively engage with regulatory agencies to protect the interest of our members and advocate for sci- ence-based regulations. We want to say, "Okay, A CONVERSATION WITH IPC PRESIDENT AND CEO JOHN MITCHELL FeATure inTerview