SUPPLY CHAIN I TRAINING
The quality of IPC
standards
Quality is critical in the aerospace industry where reliability is paramount. For many companies, ensuring quality standards in electronics are applied across the production process is a pre-requisite for work carried out by subcontractors and systems integrators.
O
ver recent years, internationally accepted quality standards for electronic hardware production have become increasingly important as outsourcing by OEMs
has increased, international trade has expanded and legislation such as the Restriction of the use of certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive has been imposed. This is why the IPC standards in electronics have been adopted across the sector.
Whichever manufacturing sector a contract electronics manufacturer (CEM) is supplying into, maintaining quality standards is increasingly recognised as a key factor in customer satisfaction and a means of ensuring efficiency in manufacturing operations. In the competitive aerospace market contracts may be won or not based on whether suppliers can meet exacting quality standards when manufacturing components and products for use in this highly specialised industry. As a result many CEMs and OEMs are looking to qualified training providers such as Leeds-based Electronics Yorkshire to ensure that staff are trained to apply quality-based processes and procedures such as those issued by IPC. The IPC association was formed by major global industrial
companies including Boeing, NASA, Hewlett Packard, Raytheon, BAE Systems and Nokia, all of which recognised the need to ensure that subcontractors’ quality is maintained at an appropriate worldwide level of standard classification. This standard is accepted by multinational OEMs, aerospace and defence contractors, as well as many smaller electronics production companies. A common misconception is that the IPC concept consists
Standards across the board: Electronics Yorkshire’s development programmes cover soldering, assembly, cable and wire harness, and repair/rework of PCBs
of just one book of standards; however, the truth is that the IPC framework consists of four major aspects, which are standards, training, certification, and membership, and it is the thousands of hours of volunteer time contributed by various individuals throughout the industry that makes IPC strong. IPC standards are created by industry volunteers through committee task groups which exist in the US, Nordic countries and China. Since 1995, when IPC’s first training and certification programme was launched, many major equipment manufacturers have participated in formulating the standards as well as fulfilling them. In its 53 year history, IPC has published standards for many steps of the printed circuit manufacturing and assembly process, building from a foundation of solid design up to final acceptance. Today, organisations of all sizes, including those involved in supplying electronic-based products to the aerospace industry, benefit from implementing IPC standards through having trained, certified operators in key positions of the electronic production process, from design through to inspection. IPC has two levels of staff development programmes, namely
certified IPC application specialist (CIS) for staff such as quality line leaders, operational managers, assembly operators and design engineers; and certified trainer (CIT) for instructors empowered to train other staff to the CIS standard. The quality processes for both the trainers and the application specialists are such that each must be recertified on a regular two-yearly basis so as to remain abreast of the many changes that can take place in the electronics industry.
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