such areas as VLSI design and embedded system software. In particular, getting people for analogue design is a challenge. From an application’s perspective, knowledge of DSP, image processing, graphics, video/audio/speech processing and communication network protocols is invaluable for those who will work on front-end design and embedded software,” explains C.P Ravikumar, director-university relation, Texas Instruments (TI).
SMT is another area with a huge manpower requirement. The electronics industry is facing a tectonic shift from through-hole soldering to SMT with each passing day.
N. Chandramohan, country head (SMT division), Juki, predicts, “With the steady growth of the SMT industry each year, inevitably, the demand of trained manpower will also increase.”
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Since the automation sector comprises companies with highly technical processes, this
reflects on the manpower needs as well
—Vishal Dahiya, factory automation, Panasonic India
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“We do see a gap in Unfortunately, none of the undergraduate electronics engineering courses offered in India covers practical aspects of SMT as part of the course curriculum.
Last but not the least, there are some subject areas like basic electronics, PCB designing and hardware maintenance that are always in demand from the entire electronics andallied industries.
Industry-training institute interface
Undoubtedly, training institutes with their short-term courses are important for companies to help improve the productivity of their engineers. Texas Instruments works with several thirdparty companies to help them in their endeavour to train their professionals. Cranes Software, its university programme partner, runs a programme called ‘Cranes Varsity’ wherein it imparts training on TI products such asDSPs, microcontrollers, Beagle boards, and analogue and medical electronics devices.
Often training institutes also provide training services to corporates and academic institutions. For example,eilabz has conducted many successful training programmes for companies, both big and small.
In some cases, training institutes may evolve as the outcome of long-time understanding of the skill gap by the industry. BIT Mapper, a well-known training institute, is the brainchild of Rakesh Mehta, who, after successfully running Mechatronics Test Equipment (India), envisioned a great future for skilled manpower. Leading firms like Panasonic and NMtronics have also established their technology
centres with the same vision.
EFY Tech Center, another successful training institute with centres in Delhi and Bangalore, has alliances with leading firms like Renesas Technology, Microchip Technology and Freescale Semiconductor. It offers training courses in basic electronics, microcontrollers, embedded systems, robotics and PCB designing, and will soon start digital signal processors, FPGAs and VLSI courses. After successful completion of some of these courses, a certificate is issued directly by Microchip Technology for their microcontrollers, or by EFY for the rest.
All the courses of ISM, a Bangalore-based training institute, are co-designed by domain experts from Wipro Technologies, Kyocera, BOSCH, Motorola and Philips. The subjects have been chosen with a view to impart knowledge and training in areas that are in maximum demand by the industry and are usually the weakest link in the repertoire of a student.
Sofcon, a Noida-based industrial automation training institute, has faculty members with experience in executing various automation projects and automation training.
“Being an industrial automation solutions provider and training company, we get ample requests for trained manpower from our client companies. We also recruit engineers for our own projects, from those who have undergone training on our platforms,” says Anshu Singhal, director, Sofcon.
The future ahead
With the advancement of electronics, more and more recruiters are looking for specialised skills during recruitment. Given the high level of technical know-how required for most profiles in this field, the employability of jobseekers depends on the advanced technical skills they possess. Additional skill sets gained through the training institutes always provide an extra edge to aspirants over their competitors.
