EMSNOW

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 process. They discuss current and future adoption and why the industry isn’t as far along on the path to Industry 4.0 as expected. It’s an insightful discussion with one of the pioneers of smart manufacturing.

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 of the market, how Freedom attracts new employees, and much more.

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 discussion ends with a high-level discussion of the challenges of bringing the entire electronics ecosystem back to EMEA.

Part One can be found here..

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. 

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. It’s slow going, he admits, but he does see progress. The PCBAA is very active, meeting with members of Congress as the projects are launched and this discussion is essential for anyone participating in this unprecedented reversal of a decades-long trend.

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 interview can be found here..

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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 reason for these agreements and how they actually benefit customers.

Part One covers David Loftus’ background, ECIA’s mission, the definition and reasons for NCNR terms, what type of part is likely to have NCNR terms, and much more.

Part Two, which will post tomorrow, goes deeper into what EMS companies can do to prepare.

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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 the board available for labels has become very limited. In this interview, Eric learns what IDENTCO does to solve these challenges with customers. Full-scale laboratory test capability is something seldom seen in companies like IDENTCO, but that is where the innovation happens. This conversation explores what that means for the industry’s labeling challenges.

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 line, he says, the strategy is to reduce risk. It’s a conversation well worth your time for the latest about sourcing PCBs.

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, making even less experienced operators more accurate, which improves quality and reduces cost. The two also discuss ViTrox’s ‘One-View’ solution, how new customers train their operators, and much more.

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