Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/855901
August 2017 • SMT Magazine 11 Stephen Las Marias is managing editor of SMT Magazine. He has been a technology editor for more than 12 years covering electronics, components, and industrial automation systems. ASSEMBLY TRAINING AND EDUCATION According to our survey, 73% of respon- dents send their people to conferences for train- ing and further education. The frequency var- ies; some send their engineers for training once a year, while others attend such training every six months. Others say they send their people occasionally and per demand—and that these people vary from sales, to production, or the front-end guys—depending on the conferences and individual needs. Continuous Education and Training to Improve the Assembly Process As I mentioned earlier, we considered 'im- proving the assembly process' as our topic for this month's issue of SMT Magazine. But as we found out, education and training are key to- wards that assembly process improvement goal. In this issue, you will find our discussions on this topic with MC Assembly's Luis Ramirez and Dan Prina, and Manncorp's Tom Beck and Chris Ellis. A separate article from MC Assem- bly, meanwhile, details their recent Incito Man training for its employees, and its impact on their quality, productivity, cost effectiveness, and continuous process improvement. Industry veteran Steve Williams of The Right Approach Consulting, meanwhile, writes about the EMS skills gap epidemic. We also have interesting articles from Alpha Assembly Solution's Westin Bent, Goepel Elec- tronic's Jens Kokott, and from Stefan Meissner of ULT AG and Arne Neiser of SEHO Systems. You will also find inside my interview with James Yeoh of Zestron Precision Cleaning in Malaysia. We talked about the latest develop- ments in cleaning, and how their Zestron Acad- emy is helping educate the industry in terms of cleaning systems and processes. As always, SMT Magazine is not complete without our expert columnists. This month, we have Dr. Jennie Hwang writing a prelude on her upcoming series of articles on the role of bis- muth in electronics. We also have Tom Borkes' third installation of his article series on analyzing the cost of ma- terials in today's global economy. I hope you'll enjoy this month's issue of our magazine. Next month, we will focus is on re- pair and rework. Stay tuned! SMT Q: How important are industry associations to your business? Not important Slightly important Fairly important Important Very important 30% 30% 22% 15% 3% Q: Do you send people to conferences to receive training ? 73% Yes 27% No