IPC and J-STD electronics assembly
Bare Board Acceptability and Handling: IPC-A-600, IPC-6012 and IPC-1602
Inspect, store and handle printed boards so defects are caught at receiving, not after assembly
Awareness · 1.5 hours · Certificate does not expire
A bare printed board that reaches the assembly line with a hidden defect becomes a loaded board with a hidden defect, and by then the cost of finding it has multiplied by the value of every component on it. This course teaches the people who receive, inspect, store and handle bare boards how to catch problems at the receiving bench and how to keep a conforming board conforming until it is assembled.
You will learn the roles of the three documents: IPC-6012 as the performance specification the purchase order invokes, IPC-A-600 as the illustrated acceptability document, and IPC-1602 as the handling and storage standard, which replaced the older IPC-1601 guideline in 2020. You will learn the three performance classes and the board types, and the split between what the fabricator certifies with coupons and reports and what you check at receiving. You will learn the externally observable conditions at principle level: surface and plating defects, solder mask and legend, edges and holes, warp and twist, measling, crazing, blistering and delamination, and how acceptable and nonconforming are decided. You will learn why moisture absorption matters, when and how boards are baked and what baking costs the finish, how to read packaging and humidity indicators, shelf life, gloves and contamination, and where ESD and FOD controls apply. The final module turns this into receiving practice: sampling, certificates and coupons, documenting a rejection, supplier feedback and scenarios from the bench.
The course is for receiving inspectors, stores and kitting staff, buyers, quality technicians, line leads and supplier quality engineers at aerospace, defense, medical and industrial electronics assemblers. It teaches concepts and reasoning in plain words. It does not reproduce the standards' tables, numbered criteria or figures, and it is not an IPC certification.
The course closes with a 10-question examination drawn from a bank of 20. On passing you receive a PlanetISO Certificate of Completion with lifetime access to the course content. The certificate does not expire.
What people learn
- State the roles of IPC-6012, IPC-A-600 and IPC-1602 and how the drawing and purchase order sit above them.
- Explain the three performance classes and the board types, and who selects the class.
- Distinguish what the fabricator certifies through coupons and reports from what receiving inspection checks.
- Recognise and name the common externally observable conditions on a bare board and explain how they are judged by class.
- Explain why moisture absorption matters, when boards are baked, and what baking costs the surface finish.
- Apply packaging, humidity indicator, shelf life, glove, ESD and FOD controls to boards in stores and at receiving.
- Sample a lot, read a certificate, document a rejection and feed the result back to the fabricator.