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24 The PCB Design Magazine • October 2016 by Andy Shaughnessy This month we've been dealing with chal- lenges related to being a great manager and a great leader. One of the biggest problems a manager faces is training—getting employees trained, and keeping them current on constant- ly changing technologies. I asked Leo Lambert, VP and CTO of EPTAC what his thoughts were on the subject of leadership, and more specifi- cally, what strategies Mentor embraces with re- gard to training—both initial and ongoing. Andy Shaughnessy: Leo, please give us a quick background on EPTAC and the training you pro- vide. Leo Lambert: EPTAC is a certified IPC training center, and we train to all the IPC programs, including IPC-A-600, IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, WHMA/IPC-A-620, IPC-7711/7721, and IPC- 6012. We hold these classes all over the coun- try and in our local facility in Manchester, New Hampshire. We are the largest training center supplying IPC training to the industry. We offer and sell training materials to sup- port our customers who train their own person- nel and conduct webinars on a monthly basis, discussing current topics within our industry. We answer customers' questions in our Solder Tips section and believe this Q&A is really help- ful to the industry. Our Ask Helena & Leo sec- tion allows anyone to ask questions related to electronic manufacturing and more. We also provide news about the latest things happening within the industry and within EPTAC itself. Shaughnessy: Have your training methods evolved over time? Lambert: Our offerings to the industry include a manual soldering program, along with an ad- vance manual soldering program dealing with 0402, 0201 and 01005 component sizes. This program is modified at the request of our cus- tomers to fit their needs. We also have incorporated additional work- manship programs to the IPC 610 and 620 pro- grams where we teach the students how to in- spect the product and physically build a cable with the appropriate crimps and strip lengths. Additionally, we've developed workshops designed for engineers and supervisors to pro- vide them with a quick look at the standards, LEO LAMBERT Discusses EPTAC's Evolving Mission FEATURE INTERVIEW