Actually, miller supplies nearly ALL of their technical manuals as well as service updates, test placement material, basic electronics, welding, engine drive & inverter theory training material free of charge as well.
The primary reason I was moved to make this comment, is that I am preparing to become a Miller Factory Authorized Service Center. For a Miller Factory Authorized Service Technician Certificate, one only has to complete two levels of training at a Factory Training center at a cost of $400 per class (Service Engineering 1&2) at a duration of four days a class. After that, there are two levels of tests to take at a cost of $35 per test. Then, you have Factory Certification. You only have to agree to attend future training of much the same type at very reasonable intervals to keep your certification current. That's it.
No HUGE expense on books & code manuals.
I do understand the vast amount of welding code & other parameters that are involved & see that much more material & training is required to cover it.
The point I am making is that every time a revision or new year code book comes out, it's another $300 or whatever the cost is to purchase it. I would think that information could be supplied online at a reasonable cost, or for say, a membership fee as opposed to having to go spend hundreds of dollars on a new book every time something slightly changes or is revised.
This has been discussed in threads here before regarding the excessive cost for these materials.
I am NOT a CWI, nor will I probably ever be. I'm only saying, it's a lot of dough out of a fella's pocket to purchase this stuff & could probably be provided at a much lower cost online.
I could be wrong altogether, but still feel they really get into your pocket to keep your certification current.