FROM THE EDITOR

The True Value of Human Capital

For many electronics products, a great deal of attention is paid to what products cost. The pace of price deflation in flat panel TVs, music players, computers and video games is staggering. Certainly, the drop in pricing has greatly expanded the market for each of these products. Similarly, as a developer of highly-engineered electronic test and measurement products, we too seek to leverage the ever-increasing power of silicon products like microprocessors and memory into lower-priced products designed for industrial users.

With the enthusiasm over falling equipment costs, there is a temptation to reduce the investment in the training of technicians who are expected to operate these test and measurement systems with their increasing capability. The costs of labor as well as the associated travel and training don't follow Moore's Law (an empirical observation about how the number of transistors on an IC for minimum component cost doubles every 24 months), so the cost of operators can be a very significant cost of the use of test equipment.

By neglecting the cost of properly training operators, are buyers "penny wise and dollar foolish"? When evaluating the success or failure of a test program, it is important to realize that any tool is only as useful as the skill of its user. This is as true of a hammer as it is a thermography camera. Investing in developing skills is the key to program success. People and skills are the key ingredient in any successful endeavor.

Join Electrophysics and Dranetz BMI for a FREE Power Quality and Thermography Seminar.

Understand power quality and power reliability, and learn about the advances in thermographic technology.

Register online at www.dranetz-bmi.com/seminars.cfm to attend one of the locations below.