New Electronic Manufacturing Certification Helps Protect Manufacturers' Intellectual Property

In 2013, the Association Connecting Electronics Industries (IPC) launched a certification program that allows printed board manufacturers to show their commitment and concern to protect customers’ intellectual property by complying with industry best practices.

In a press release, Michael Mosan, the vice president of global technology of TTM Technologies averred that the protection of intellectual property is extremely important in the electronics industry.” He further said that IPC’s new Intellectual Property Protection Program is designed to help improve facilities’ programs and ultimately get them certified to a university standard.

The electronic manufacturing certification process was based on IPC-1071 also known as Best Practices for Intellectual Property Protection in Printed Circuit Board Manufacturing. It is designed to regulate the electronic manufacturing processes for commercial, military, industrial and high reliability markets. It was developed with help and input from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), assembly companies and printed circuit board manufacturers.

The certification process encompasses a facility audit that is anchored on a 130-question evaluation that examines the specific areas that involved physical facility security, information technology security and compliance to specific regulations including ITAR and EAR.

The audit questionnaire covers specific categories. These are related to the main categories in the IPC-1071 standard which also includes corporate policy, employee training, emergency procedures, supply chain, vendor management, destruction of scrap materials and many more.

The Certification Process

Electronic manufacturing organizations that want to be certified are required to submit to a certification process. There’s not much pressure here because interested organization can go through the process at their own pace. They have three levels of audit to choose from, depending on their level of needs:

• Level 1, Basic Intellectual Property Protection, best suited for manufacturing facilities that produce high-volume consumer goods.

• Level 2, High Intellectual Property Protection, best suited for manufacturing facilities that produce high-value goods.

• Level 3, Advanced Level for Military, Government and Commercial Intellectual Property Protection, designed for military and high-security systems.

Requiring participating organizations to obtain electronic manufacturing certification is one of the most significant campaigns of IPC. It works to ensure the protection of manufacturers’ intellectual rights and guarantee the reliability and quality of their finished products.

Source: IPC.org