EMSNOW

Michael Ford, Sr. Director of Emerging Industry Strategy at Aegis Software, is an industry thought leader, and this conversation tackles some important issues about what people want in their MES system. He says that people want MES that is simple to use but has the internal capabilities to manage the very complicated electronics manufacturing process efficiently. Aegis will be exhibiting at Produc...

Koh Young Europe’s Michael Zahn describes his company’s plans for Productronica 2023 and updates Eric on the progress of the Smart Factory in Europe. The two discuss both the SMT side of Koh Young’s European business and the semiconductor packaging side, which is getting a lot of attention because of efforts to bring these activities back to Europe. They discuss the trends in these technologies an...

Excess inventory is a challenge for the industry right now. Master distributor Waldom Electronics works with distributors to repurpose this excess, which will help EMS and the entire ecosystem. Andjela Pasi, EMEA Director of Sales and Marketing, explains exactly how Waldom receives excess inventory from distributors to ensure the highest quality and integrity of the components, and also to prevent...

Eric speaks with François Monette, Co-Founder of Cogiscan about how far the industry has gotten since 1999 when Cogiscan was first launched. The founders saw the potential of data analysis and machine-to-machine connectivity to achieve greater efficiencies on the factory floor. The two discuss how digital technology can be used to learn where the waste is coming from to continuously improve the pr...

Eric speaks with John McKay, President of Sales, and John Magee, VP of Sales, at independent distributor Freedom. They discuss Freedom’s business model, their certifications, the quality programs they have in place to prevent counterfeit components from entering the component supply chain, the impact of supply chain disruption on the industry, inventory overhang among customers, the current state...

Eric discusses in4ma’s most recent research on the European EMS industry with Dieter Weiss, Senior Market Analyst, in4ma. In Part One, they discuss the inventory overhang in detail. 

In Part Two of this discussion with in4ma Senior Market Analyst Dieter Weiss, Eric asks about M&A activity in Europe this year, Dieter’s view of the state of the industry and consolidation trends, the drivers behind these trends, such as pressure from OEMs, higher interest rates, and the overall inevitable increase in the amount of outsourcing. “The future is bright…but not for everyone.” The...

Eric gets an update from David Schild who is the Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA). The two discuss David’s recent experiences at PCB West and the collaboration between the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (PCEA) and PCBAA. David discusses PCBAA’s mission to ‘educate, advocate, legislate’ for the industry, and the current status of the CHIPs Act....

This second part of the interview includes David’s update on trends in the current component supply chain environment. They discuss lead times, downstream capacity issues, inventory stability and production planning issues, how manufacturers prioritize orders, NCNR overhang, and much more. This is a must-see video for all EMS working on increasing their supply chain resilience. Part One of this in...

Eric’s discussion with IDENTCO Technical Director Ralph Rhein focuses on the innovation happening at IDENTCO’s in-house laboratory. Environments for electronics have gotten very harsh, requiring labels to withstand very high temperatures during processing, but also under the hoods of cars, for example. Furthermore, with the constant demand for more function in smaller spaces, the real estate on th...

Eric speaks with David Loftus, President and CEO of ECIA on the very challenging topic of NCNR (non-cancellable, non-returnable) agreements between component manufacturers/distributors and their customers. This topic is a major point of contention — and a source of misunderstanding, especially in the past few years. This very thorough discussion provides much-needed clarity and context for the rea...

Eric discusses the PCB industry with Jeremy Griner, Managing Director ICAPE USA. Jeremy explains the ICAPE value proposition and provides an update on recent acquisitions. The conversation covers global trends related to regionalization, recovery from the pandemic, sourcing diversification, the importance of design for manufacturability and ICAPE’s capabilities related to these initiatives. Bottom...

Eric speaks with Zi Yang Seow, ViTrox’s Director of Global Business Development about his background and role within ViTrox; the history of the company and their product offerings. They discuss the ViTrox global go-to-market strategy, and delve deep into how AI has impacted the quest for Industry 4.0. Zi explains how AI minimizes ‘false calls’, but also how it can enable more accurate programming,...

Eric speaks with Mukesh Vasani, CEO of Aimtron Group about his inspiring personal story growing up in India, and the history of Aimtron Group, which has facilities in the U.S. and an expanding list of facilities in India. 

Eric and Joel Scutchfield, GM of Koh Young America, discuss the state of the industry in implementing the Smart Factory within the broader context of current challenges of skilled labor shortages and tightening access to capital. This in-depth, thoughtful conversation focuses on how automation and AI can potentially help, but there is a lot to do. It’s a complex, multifaceted challenge and Joel ex...

s part of EMSNOW’s coverage of the emerging EMS industry in India, Eric speaks to Anthony Montalbano, CEO of Cyient DLM, the electronics manufacturing division of Cyient, an engineering services and digital transformation company. The discussion covers Anthony’s background, the thinking behind the company’s growth strategy, as well as thoughts about the overall EMS industry in India. They discuss...

EMSNOW speaks with Sebastian Schaal, Founder and Managing Director of Luminovo about a new customer portal they developed to allow greater collaboration between EMS companies and their customers.  Based on their work with EMS companies during the initial stages of the customer engagement, they designed their user interface to be very intuitive and useful for customers. The discussion goes deep int...

Eric asks David for an update based on his recent time in Washington, DC advocating for the PCB industry. This is an important legislative window where decisions are being made to bring electronics manufacturing back to the U.S. There is some progress in educating policy makers about the need for domestic PCB manufacturing, but there is still a lot of work to do, he says. The phrase ‘Chips Don’t F...

Eric talks to Anthony Bradbury, who is Managing Director, Mycronic UK & Ireland, about the holy grail of manufacturing – achieving maximum utilization rate of an SMT line. They discuss in detail the stages a typical organization goes through in improving utilization, the change management issues that must be addressed, typical roadblocks, and much more. To subscribe to EMSNOW’s Daily Newslette...

Eric interviews Cybord’s CEO Oshri Cohen about their revolutionary AI software solution to inspect all components for defects or counterfeit from images collected from in-line inspection equipment. This cloud-based solution is based on visual analysis of top side and bottom side of all components. It is especially appropriate for regulated industries like aerospace and medical systems, providing a...

Francisco Almada Lobo, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Critical Manufacturing briefs Eric on his company’s journey developing its MES system to make Industry 4.0 a reality for manufacturers of complex electronics. The key is integration and execution, he says, and his team’s deep expertise. His unique MES solution has a low-code, very flexible interface that enables customers to configure...

It's been an eventful three weeks and Eric and Dieter marvel at all they have done and learned. And they also reflect on the final EMS visit to Tecron Worbis in Worbis Germany. 

On this, their second to the last podcast from Europe 2023 On Tour, Eric and Dieter are in Germany reflecting on their visits to Prettl Electronics and  Krüger & Gothe . Dieter starts out by describing the unique characteristics of the companies, and then the two discuss their impressions of the day's discussion with the executive teams.

The team is in Dresden Germany today visiting two EMS companies: Deltec Electronics and Cicor. Dieter provides background about Deltec's management team, the type of PCBA they produce, their skills in industrial engineering, and how they manage the risk of working with start-ups. The visit to the Cicor facility provided insights into that company's acquisition strategy and the current bu...

Eric and Dieter recorded this podcast from the Czech Republic where they are preparing for their next day of meetings. They reflect on visits to two  EMS companies that specialize in the automotive sector, Melecs in Austria and Videoton in Hungary.  They discuss the background of the two companies, type of design capabilities they saw on their tour, the structure of the companies, the way they go...