Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Browse our information center to find specific answers to many commonly asked questions. By filtering through our topics, you’ll be able to answer your questions when it’s most convenient for you.
- 1. IPC
- 2. PIEK
- 3. Certified IPC Trainer (CIT)
- 4. Certified IPC Specialist (CIS)
- 5. Certified Standards Expert (CSE)
- 6. Certification Quality Initiative (CQI)
No, every participant must have his own unique email address (company e-mail or private). The IPC CQI system allows each e-mail address only once, so general e-mail addresses such as info@company.com are not possible. Without an e-mail address registration with IPC is NOT possible.
No, the IPC-A-610 CIS certifications are individual, personal certifications. There is a separate program however for certification on a company level, which is called IPC Validation Services. Contact the PIEK sales team for more information on these services.
This depends on the way the contract is set out. If a version is explicitly mentioned, than that version stays valid. But if it is stated that the latest version is to be used, than this latest one would automatically become applicable. IPC has no fixed guidelines for situations like this.
No, IPC membership is not required in order to get certified as a CIT.
Yes, as long as an IPC-A-600H CIT certificate is valid you are allowed to conduct CIS certification trainings. Actually the certificates do not state the Revision to which a training has been conducted. Of course you have to prepare yourself as a trainer, have the appropriate trainer kit for the J-version available and use it the appropriate way.
You have 6 months before the end of your certification to take part in a recertification. If your certificate has expired, you will need to follow a certification.
Each certificate has its unique serial ID number and is granted on an individual basis. In the case of a loss please contact PIEK for possibilities of receiving a substitute certificate. If you obtained your certification after August 2018, you will find your certificate in your digital environment on the website of IPC, my.ipcedge.org.
At the back of every IPC document you will find a “standard improvement form”. Fill this out and sent it to IPC. In the case of an older document make sure you have the correct address (IPC at the moment is in Bannockburn). You might also fill out such a form in digital format (download from the IPC website) and send it by e-mail.
IPC-A-610 CIS (Certified IPC Specialist)
This CIS variant is intended for operators
IPC-A-610 CIT (Certified IPC Trainer)
This CIT variant is intended for anyone who wants to train operators to CIS themselves
IPC-A-610 CSE (Certified Standards Expert)
This CSE variant is intended for anyone who wants to become an expert in the field of the relevant standard. These experts are often used by companies as coordinators to correctly apply the standard within the company.
No, the CIS student doesn’t have to do the Essentials Program. It is not mandatory but he can do it if he would like to do it. It is normal that the Portal states that the Module is incomplete until the student has downloaded his/hers certificate. So after downloading the students certificate, the Portal will state the module as complete.
No, for the IPC Help Desk you need a separate login. Click on the Certification Help Desk button in the Portal and sign up for a new account.
No, IPC explicitly states in the training program that module 1, on which this exam is based, is a mandatory module in the certification flow. Without the successful completion of this module and the online exam you cannot certify your participants.
All IPC certificates remain valid until the last day of the month. Re-certification can be accomplished in a 6 month window before the existing certification expiration date, without any consequences for the expiration date cycle.
If your customer specifies an IPC standard in his contract this will be applicable for his products. However, customer criteria in contracts or drawings always take precedence on the criteria in IPC standards.
24 hours after your CIT certification or re-certification has been registered, it is added to your personal IPC EDGE 2.0 dashboard. In this trainer’s KIT, which you can find under ‘CIT Resources’, you find all available versions and translations of the materials of the training courses. You can download whichever you want.
Every course has its own course materials. Search for the desired course and download the relevant documents. This ensures that you always have the most up-to-date material. The documents can obviously also be used online.
After you have been CIT certified, you can download all translations and revisions of the courses that you have been certified for. For instance, somebody with a CIT 610 certification can download a range of training documents in a range of languages of the 610 standard. It goes without saying that this can be done free of charge.
An IPC certificate is valid for 2 years from the day the training has been satisfactorily completed. It is valid through the last day of the month.
Example: you successfully completed the exam on September 9th 2018, your certificate will be valid until the last day of September 2020.
Only IPC authorized certification centers and/or currently certified IPC trainers may certify people for a certain certification program.
In case of doubt you could get a confirmation on the validity of this organization from IPC or ask the concerned organization regarding the qualification of their trainer for this specific training (does this person have a valid IPC J-STD-001 CIT or MIT certificate?).
PIEK by the way is an IPC authorized training center for all IPC Certifications and employs only certified and experienced trainers.
You have 6 months before the end of your certification to take part in a recertification. If your certificate has expired, you will need to follow a certification.
No, apparently this customer is related to the space industry. For this group of products IPC has developed a so called addendum, a document containing supplementary specific criteria. This means that this product is subject to the criteria in the regular J-STD-001F as well as J-STD-001FS (mind the priority however). Remark: J-STD-001FS should not be used in conjunction with J-STD-001E.
If you can’t change the name in your profile, you can sent a help desk ticket to IPC. Choose “Certification Help Desk”, log in with your Login credentials, and choose “Profile Update/Company Update”. IPC will change your company name.
If your certificate is expired, you can’t get re-certified. In this case you will need to attend a certification class.
IPC secures all information, also the answer-keys are secured. Since the possibility of online-testing it is not possible to check your answers anymore.
Did the student upgrade his profile? If the student didn’t update his/hers profile then he will not get his/hers certificate. (students have to update their profile in the IPC Certification Portal).
You can order all IPC documents from the IPC Web shop. https://shop.ipc.org/
PIEK has made some instruction video’s on Youtube which explains everything in detail. Please watch Part 1 – 6: https://www.youtube.com/
In this case you should contact PIEK International Education Centre (I.E.C.) by telephone +31455703333 or via Email support@piektraining.com.
No, in the IPC training program it is stated that IPC training materials are only to be used for official IPC certification training courses that lead to acquiring an official, serialized IPC certificate. For all other purposes it is forbidden to use them.
There are three ways:
- IPC General Inquiries: certification@ipc.org
- IPC Certification Hotline: +1-847-597-2982 if you need urgent answers
- IPC Helpdesk for CQI and training related issues.
No you don’t have to do that if the student didn’t do any workmanship in the training, so you only have to grade their workmanship when they actually did practice workmanship during the IPC-WHMA-A-620 CIS-training.
Yes, when you create your class in the CQI Portal you can choose between J or H Revision.
