The American electronics assembly industry is as solid as it has ever been. Sales for electronics manufacturers are at all-time highs, and Printed Circuit Boards’ sales are following a similar pattern. While these industry growths are positive reflections of everyone involved in the soldering, electronics assembly, and PCB industry in general, there’s still a major problem – the challenge of avoiding easily avoidable soldering defects.
Numerous touchup operators and soldering inspectors almost depend on soldering and electronics assembly professionals’ mistakes for their yearly wages. If you’re an established OEM or electronics manufacturing services provider, you can’t afford these defects as they cause huge strains on company budgets.
Emerging OEMs or electronics manufacturing services providers face even bigger threats. These small-scale businesses have transformed their operations from local shops into significant industry players by putting in a lot of effort. They’ve all had to adopt new practices and technological skills to stay in business.
Efficient production is key to these businesses’ bottom lines. That’s why they only hire soldering professionals who are IPC-certified. Or they train their soldering professionals and make them receive their IPC certifications. Those are the only ways these small-scale players can maintain relevancy in this highly competitive sector.
The IPC Wants More Certified Soldering Professionals
IPC, the central authority for every company and professional involved in the electronics manufacturing industry, is always reaching out to aspiring soldering professionals and asking them to receive IPC certifications.
The IPC Education Foundation, for instance, recently hosted over 100 students for a day-long event to provide in depth information on the fundamentals of PCBs and soldering. Such IPC events are often frequented by electronics manufacturing industry leaders and IPC trainers.
It’s clear that the IPC wants more soldering professionals to come under their umbrella of certification and participate in the ever-improving American electronics assembly industry. Professionals who have received high-quality and IPC-certified solder training are in demand.
The Threat of Automation
The threat of automation won’t spare soldering professionals, especially the un-certified ones. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (US BLS) reports that 1,883,700 people were employed as assemblers, soldering professionals, or fabricators in 2019. By 2029, BLS expects that number to drop to 1,679,400. That’s 204,300 job cuts (roughly 11%) in one decade!
If automation in the electronics assembly and soldering industries keeps improving, manufacturers won’t need to hire soldering professionals in masses. But, soldering is a highly intricate professional. So, companies will retain soldering professionals with the best technical expertise. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has also over-emphasized the importance of certification and training for soldering professionals. According to them, only high-qualified professionals with technical vocational training and proper certifications will continue to have high-paying job opportunities in the electronics manufacturing sector.
Soldering professionals who plan to contribute to technologically advanced industries like aerospace or electronic medical devices will face this wave of automation first. That’s because technical expertise is mandatory for all soldering professionals involved in the manufacture of such highly intricate devices.
These soldering professionals should be the first ones to sign up for Wisconsin’s top solder training programs. They should know that IPC-certified trainers can help them deepen their technical expertise so that they can qualify for high-paying positions in the future.
Also, IPC training and certifications need renewal every two years. Consistency in receiving these training and certifications is the only way to survive as a soldering professional in the electronics assembly industry.
Solder Training – Building for the Future
All IPC-certified training experts are dedicated to advancing the electronics assembly and soldering professions by giving aspiring soldering professionals courses on IPC J-STD-001 certification. These experts provide on-site training (they visit the employer’s worksite), scheduled classes, and now even online training sessions. Apart from broadening their knowledge and skill-sets, soldering professionals also get to –
- Improve their impact in workplaces.
- Certified technical professionals learn about evolving technologies and important industry trends.
- Avoid miscommunication. A lot of inconsistency and deferred production cycles are down to miscommunications amongst technical professionals. After knowing the requirements of IPC-A-610 or J-STD-001 courses, they would all be on the same page and hence avoid mistakes because of inconsistent communications.
- Companies get to validate their employees’ abilities to perform various production techniques. IPC certification can massively improve a soldering professional’s workplace credibility.
- IPC-certified soldering professionals are able to meet wide-ranging sets of technical performance requirements, so they’re more employable than non-certified soldering professionals.
Consistency is crucial to productivity and industry success. That’s what IPC training programs create – consistent batches of IPC-certified soldering experts who can maintain IPC guidelines and standards during production.
After renewing or receiving IPC certifications, soldering professionals are able to efficiently produce consistent batches of high-quality products and easily communicate with vendors, manufacturers, etc., in the supply chain. Companies that facilitate IPC-certified training programs for their employees become trusted providers in the industry and are able to attract more clients in the future.