EMSNOW

Eric and Dieter discuss their visits to SG Automotive in Slovenia and BECOM in Austria. For anyone that thought all EMS are the same, this tour disproves that thought dramatically. The two discuss the level of automation at SG Automotive and the challenges of competing internationally; their customer base, the brands they support, the history of the company and its CEO, the potential for growth an...

Eric and Dieter review the event held last week in Munich. The EMS Forum was attended by 150 people, representing 85 companies. Dieter explains the background and history of the event, who was invited, and its purpose. They cover the content and the speakers, a summary of each session, and some of the discussions. EMSNOW thanks these tour sponsors:   CalcuQuote , – Global leader in quoting and sup...

In this podcast, Eric and Dieter are in Slovenia, reporting on their trip to Austria where they met with executives from Ginzinger Electronics Systems and Digital Elektronik GmbH. They met with the CEO of another Austrian EMS, CMS Electronics, at the EMS event in Munich this past week and add their analysis of this company to the discussion. Austria is Eric's favorite country to visit and the...

Eric and Dieter are in Switzerland where they report on visits to Hengartner Elektronic AG and Variosystems. The first, as Eric comments, represents a smaller EMS company that has developed specialized manufacturing capabilities that are truly unique. They refer to their facility as a product innovation center, and that's the niche they have carved out for themselves.  The second company, Var...

Eric and Dieter share their thoughts about this first phase of the 2023 tour. They begin by clarifying the terminology: the industry in the UK prefers the term CEM (contract electronic manufacturing)  to EMS, so that's what we will use.  Dieter starts with the numbers from in4ma's research, and then the two dive into what they have learned from their visits about nuances pertaining to CE...

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...

The last UK stop on the EMS Tour 2023 finds Eric and Dieter in Crayford at a 'gem of a company', Texcel. Dieter provides background and the reasons for their revenue growth this year; Eric comments that for this company, design is a differentiator, which leads to a discussion of the difference between EMS and ODM, an interesting distinction. The products and end markets served by Texcel...

In this podcast, Eric and Dieter discuss the EMS Executive meeting held in London and hosted by IPC's Sanjay Huprikar and Philippe Leonard, where Dieter presented his data about the UK EMS industry. The two discuss the purpose and context of the meeting and several of the themes, including workforce development, the greater 'silicon to systems' value chain in the UK, the importance...

Eric and Dieter make their way south through England to Bedford to visit AsteelFlash and then to Luton where they met with the team from Jaltek. They share their reflections about these companies, the stories they heard about the products they are building for customers, and the incredible level of engineering required to make these complex products a reality. They discuss the similarities and dif...

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...

Dieter Weiss comments on the size of the UK EMS industry and its place within the overall EU market. He and Eric then discuss their day's visits at Tioga Ltd in Derby and Escatec Mechatronic Ltd in Lutterworth. The detailed discussion covers the type of SMT equipment used for their particular customer mix, the history and corporate structure and what that means, and much more. 

EMSNOW/in4ma OnTour has begun! Eric Miscoll and Dieter Weiss arrived in the U.K over the weekend, and visited InCap UK in Newcastle-under-Lyme. They share their thoughts about the reasons for going on the tour, what they learned at their first visit and much more. It's a lively conversation, and sets the stage for this information-packed series of podcasts from two industry experts. This year...

Eric and Dieter discuss their upcoming trip to visit 18+ EMS companies across Europe. They will attend two EMS events where Dieter will present his research; they will travel to eight different countries. This is the 3rd trip for the duo, and the numbers keep increasing. Dieter also tells Eric more about his event in Munich for the EMS industry. They always learn new things from some of the leadin...

Eric learns more about Waldom Electronics’ unique business model as the ‘distributors’ distributor’. Chris Fetner, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships explains how Waldom’s relationships with over 2500 distributors around the globe enable the company to develop programs to bring new efficiencies to the component channel that benefit the EMS customer. Eric learns about one such program – Minim...

Eric catches up with Jeffrey Schlarbaum, Spartronics’ new CEO for an update on this dynamic US-based EMS. They discuss what drew Jeffrey to the company and industry, Spartronics’ history manufacturing in Vietnam, how Spartronics’ strategy is evolving under his watch including how they are approaching automation, the overall outlook for the industry and much more. To subscribe to EMSNOW’s Daily New...

Eric discusses SEL’s decision to begin manufacturing PCBs in the U.S. instead of outsourcing this task. They discuss the thinking behind the decision, how PCBs fit into their overall product offering, and what it means for their business. Jessi Hall is Sr. Director of Vertical Integration and John Hendrickson is Engineering Director, and they go deep into their journey, the experience of doing thi...

Eric discusses Indium’s Durafuse LT solder with Claire Hotvedt, Senior Product Development Specialist, Indium. LT stands for low temperature and Claire explains why low temperature solder is the right technology for many of today’s challenges in electronics manufacturing, including sustainability, surprisingly. She describes an initiative with Heller Industries that looked into how lowering the re...

in4ma’s Michael Künsebeck discusses the most recent European EMS research results with Eric. The two discuss in4ma’s annual EMS survey’s unique research methodology, a glimpse at the findings, including a deep dive into the growth rate, what the component shortages meant for the industry, and much more. It’s a must-see interview with Europe’s most respected research organization.

EMSNOW Publisher Eric Miscoll and Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young Americas, discuss how an old technology is learning new tricks. The reports of the death of through-hole technology have been greatly exaggerated and Koh Young has been listening to customers to add the latest smart factory advances to the process. This discussion includes some important announcements about Koh Young’s...

David Schild, Executive Director of the Printed Circuit Board Association of America (PCBAA) has been closely following the U.S. legislation known as the CHIPS and Science Act. Now that the rules for how the money will be spent have been released, he and Eric discuss how this will impact the broader electronics manufacturing industry. It’s an important discussion with critical information about ho...

Eric Miscoll speaks with Julie Cliche-Dubois, Product Manager – Analytics & Connectivity, Cogiscan about the challenges of data collection and analysis in electronics manufacturing. Digitalization of the complex data streams involved in Industry 4.0 is a very complicated endeavor and Cogiscan is at the vanguard of solving these tricky connectivity issues by working with both the machine suppli...

Waldom Electronics is a ‘Master Distributor’, meaning they work with manufacturers and distributors, to, among other services, help alleviate inventory overhang especially in periods of supply chain disruptions, such as the industry has experienced in the past few years. In this conversation with EMSNOW’s Eric Miscoll, Dan Heinen, Waldom Electronics’ Global Director of Quality explains the details...

Eric and Victor discuss ECIA’s component e-commerce platform TrustedParts.com: its history, evolution, and why having a source for components through the authorized channel matters. This valuable service can help companies mitigate risk through a source for manufacturer-validated components. The two discuss the new parametric search function, changes coming to ECIA’s website, and much more.

Scott Lucas, CEO of labeling company IDENTCO explains the solutions his company has developed to accommodate advanced dense PCBs where the real estate available for labels is so small and the process environments are very harsh. As the barcode labels become more critical for track and trace, IDENTCO works with the equipment companies to integrate the application of labels to improve productivity a...

One of the themes of APEX 2023 was the next evolution of the Smart Factory through use of AI tools. In this interview, Eric Miscoll asks Joel Scutchfield to explain the AI tools Koh Young continues to roll out to enhance their industry leading inspection systems. They go on to discuss Joel’s expectations for 2023, the power of optimism, and much more. EMSNOW & SCOOP at APEX 2023is sponsored by...