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Re-Certification – The Most Valuable Tool for Soldering Professionals Looking for IPC Solder Kits

Soldering, as a field, has advanced tremendously in the past twenty years. Now that manufacturing companies are looking for highly specific applications of this skill – it isn’t the haphazard affair it once used to be. In this new decade, highly demanding service environments and difficult specifications are compelling facility managers to ensure that the highly-precise and specialized details of all soldering processes are worked out in advance. The high-skilled jobs and processes that once used to be outsourced to the equipment/product manufacturers or engineers’ labs now fall under the service center workers’ domain. Hence, designing and mapping out each soldering process are now fundamental tasks of the average soldering professional. There are other influential trends at play, as well.

Environmental Concerns 

Environmental concerns have triggered a widespread decrease in the use of lead solders. To replace lead solders, the industry has had to innovate a lot. The European Union’s RoHS directive (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) commands the global soldering industry to reduce the use of many substances like mercury, cadmium, etc., every year to decrease the harmfulness of electronic waste streams. Ever since RoHS went into effect in 2006, all soldering professionals have been aware of the need to update their skills in whatever way possible to stay employable and, more importantly, well-employed.

Advances in the Industry  

All manufacturing companies are driving towards miniaturization. Hence, sweeping modifications in soldering processes, especially the ones involving electronics assemblies, are extremely common. Thus, there is a significant need for soldering professionals to stay up-to-date with this ever-changing field. That’s what re-certification classes do. So, for any soldering professional looking for IPC solder kits or for jobs in this field, it’s important that they ensure they have their re-training certifications and are up-to-date with all the recent advances in the industry. This also applies to Certified IPC Specialists (CIS). 

What are Re-Certification Courses?

Re-certification courses are classes for soldering professionals. In these classes, soldering professionals revisit whatever they had learned during their IPC certification classes. In their IPC Certification classes, soldering professionals learn about important industry standards that are universally applied to all workplaces where soldering is involved. While those preliminary courses take place at a slower pace to ensure students who are new to the field of soldering understand the fundamentals of IPC standards, re-certification courses take a much faster pace.

The trainers assume that the students in these courses are already utilizing IPC standards in their respective workplaces. If there are any amendments to IPC standards, students are informed about them, and the trainers discuss how those changes will affect their workplace requirements. The IPC J-STD-001 CIS re-certification course is the official re-certification training for all soldering specialists and novices.

What is the IPC J STD-001 CIS Recertification Course?

The IPC J-STD-001 Re-certification class is the most-trusted re-certification method for soldering professionals who have already achieved their CIS certification. Hence, the typical candidates for these re-certification courses are soldering professionals who have a steady understanding of the design/production requirements within particular standards or fields. The type of soldering professionals who benefit the most from these re-certification courses include –

  • Quality Personnel
  • Engineers
  • Supervisors
  • Line Operators
  • Assemblers

Specialists who are already experts of specific standards applied in the original electronics manufacturing industry also need re-training from time to time. So, the IPC J-STD-001 re-training course is deemed necessary every two years. Some of the topics that this re-certification course covers, includes –

  • Fast-track review of the IPC J-STD-001 PCB (printed circuit board), wire, terminal assembly standards.
  • Testing of PCBs.
  • Hand skills related to specific modules (modules on which the student already has a certification).
  • Re-assessing the components necessary for soldering electrical assemblies.
  • Re-assessing the allowed materials, safe methods, etc., for verification.
  • Process control.
  • Specific industry-recommended requirements for leading electronic products in the industry.

This means students who have already received their certifications need to reaffirm their overall capabilities once again. Be it their hand assembly skills by soldering components through holes, surface mounts, and wires, or their knowledge about RoHS’s latest protocols regarding soldering materials – these courses ensure that the level of expertise and competence never dwindles amongst certified professionals.

Why Training Managers Take this CIS Re-Certification Program 

A 2019 Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed that the average welder’s annual wage is $42,490. While that’s a decent wage, to earn more, soldering professionals need to advance their skillsets and aim to become training managers or advanced technicians. The IPC J-STD-001 Re-certification classes are where you’ll find these professionals who have already advanced their job roles and their soldering skillsets. These training courses constantly attract –

  • Freelance Professionals with Advanced Soldering Skills
  • Technicians
  • Assembly Process Engineers
  • Quality Assurance Supervisors
  • Training Managers

To be able to use the most advanced solder training kits, all soldering professionals need to ace these re-certification programs. The IPC J-STD-001 re-certification program is the ideal tool for soldering pros to develop their soldering knowledge, hand soldering skills, and their understanding of IPC standards!