Black Stick takes milestone 250th IPC Design Certification

Alan Graham, Director of Stoke-on-Trent based PCB Design Bureau Black Stick Ltd, marked an industry milestone as the 250th person in the UK to secure the prestigious CID certification from the IPC, but warns of a rapidly increasing skills shortage for this key British business sector.

Graham successfully passed the stringent CID certification through IPC accredited training partner Premier EDA Solutions as part of a demonstrable quality commitment by Black Stick. He has since gone on to pass the more advanced CID+ certification. In addition to providing PCB design companies with recognisable professional proof of their capabilities, Graham believes CID and CID+ also offer a rewarding path for upcoming PCB designers - a technology-critical community he describes as "an endangered species".

"Traditionally, say 10 to 20 years ago, any engineer who showed a passing interest in PCB design found themselves nominated as the designer, but things have changed dramatically," claims Graham. "With the complexities of today's packaging technologies, ultra fine pitch interconnect, critical signals and array of multilayer substrates and sophisticated PCB design software packages, it's now a serious discipline. It's no longer enough to use a CAD package and join some dots."

But Graham believes the UK community of PCB designers is diminishing: "As experienced professional retire, I don't see a queue of new talent looking to replace them," he observes. "The visible and recognised CID qualification offers a development path, gives them something to aspire to and will add to their tangible value in the employment market," he adds.

Denny McGuirk, President of the IPC, is delighted with the milestone 250th accreditation for Black Stick and sees the CID certification as a powerful tool for PCB designer to leverage their role in the electronics production process.

Black Stick can be seen at National Electronics Week (NEW) from 17th to 19th June at Earl's Court 2 on Stand No. J45. National Electronics Week is the IPC's sole UK exhibition partner.