In this interview with Clemens Jargon, Senior VP High Flex at Mycronic AB, we discover how Mycronic's dynamic and bold innovations and solutions are changing the industry through their advanced processes. With over three decades of experience, their diverse portfolio that includes screen printing, inkjet printing, material handling and storage systems, and a brand new pick-and-place machine, is pushing boundaries. Their commitment to efficiency, accuracy, and comprehensive solutions has paved the path for streamlining shop floor operations and reducing human error and intervention.
We also venture into the global strategies of Mycronic, a company a huge footprint in Europe and the Americas, as well as a strong foothold in China and Southeast Asia and brewing opportunities in India. We explore why businesses are returning from China and how Mycronic's flexible manufacturing caters to unique customer needs across diverse industries, including EV, mil-aero, and medical.
Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Adaptable Automation Specialist Launchpad.build (https://launchpad.build).
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
In this interview with Clemens Jargon, Senior VP High Flex at Mycronic AB, we discover how Mycronic's dynamic and bold innovations and solutions are changing the industry through their advanced processes. With over three decades of experience, their diverse portfolio that includes screen printing, inkjet printing, material handling and storage systems, and a brand new pick-and-place machine, is pushing boundaries. Their commitment to efficiency, accuracy, and comprehensive solutions has paved the path for streamlining shop floor operations and reducing human error and intervention.
We also venture into the global strategies of Mycronic, a company a huge footprint in Europe and the Americas, as well as a strong foothold in China and Southeast Asia and brewing opportunities in India. We explore why businesses are returning from China and how Mycronic's flexible manufacturing caters to unique customer needs across diverse industries, including EV, mil-aero, and medical.
Like every episode of EMS@C-Level, this one was sponsored by global inspection leader Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Adaptable Automation Specialist Launchpad.build (https://launchpad.build).
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
What are your expectations? When I think of Micronic, I think of a company that's dynamic and innovative in terms of creating solutions for high-mix, medium-volume environments. Am I reading that right, or?
Speaker 2:Yes, correct, I think, dynamic innovation. I think there's maybe two things, I think, which we would like to be connected to Micronic. So we are now since more than three decades in the business to populate PCBs. That means we have in fact everything in our portfolio from jet printing already, screen printing. Now we can come to this with more detail SPIs, aois, pick-and-place machines, material handling with towers, and it's always about trying to make customers' life on the shop floor as easy as we can.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So let's kind of dig into a few of those. Let's start with the screen printing and the inkjet version of that. That was kind of you going out on a limb doing something different to everybody else Brave innovation. I think of that as what's the market uptake been and how has that product settled into the market now?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know we are well known as the jet printing company. So many years away we developed the first jet printer and we are still very successful with the high-speed, high-reliability jet printing for solder paste on the board. But we have also seen, I think, that in the SMT process the main issues appear already in the solder paste deposition and we try to be a company offering a perfect solder paste solution. And next to jet printing, we thought it's a good idea to have a screen printer in our portfolio, because the screen printer, together with the SPI and the jet printer, rounds the portfolio. That means we have now in our portfolio a solution for any solder paste deposition demand of customers.
Speaker 1:Okay, and when you look at that and I you know it's just me being curious and thinking off the top of my head is there the opportunity to screen print and jet print in the same machine, where you have kind of a hybrid solution, where you have hybrid demand?
Speaker 2:Hybrid solution is exactly what you need. I don't necessarily think you have to have it in one machine, you know, because these are different machine types and some customers need only screen printing or only jet printing, but some customers need both and for them we have both of these solutions. But we can close, loop them together. That means we can connect the screen printer with the SPI. That means the SPI detects any failure on the screen print and then the jet printer can correct it. That means, in fact, when you want to go for a zero defect printing solution, the screen printer, the SPI and the jet printer together makes it the perfect round solution.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? And the other one you mentioned that I wasn't particularly aware of is the storage systems, and materials handling on the factory floor is hugely important. It's part of creating a much more efficient environment. Tell me a bit about where you position yourself in that market.
Speaker 2:Exactly and next to the solar paste deposition. The next thing where you can really gain efficiency in the pick and place or SMD process is perfect material handling and this is why, already many years back, we developed the first SMD tower and we have now a new solution which we also show here at the Peraltronica, which is the X Tower, which has higher capacity. You can store up to 2,000 wheels in one tower and the most important is that the tower supports our kitting process. Then you can store the reels in the tower and the tower is connected via intelligent software with the pick and place machines. So whenever you need to start replenishing material on the machine, the tower supports. That means whenever a reel is empty, the software tells the tower what wheel it needs. The operator gets exactly what he needs. That means you also want to eliminate human failure in the entire repenetishment process.
Speaker 1:And that's a really interesting area for discussion. Human failure is one part of it, but actually there are issues with attracting talent and retaining talent, and most EMS companies are looking at how they can grow their business without growing their headcount. Do these solutions help them to become more automated, become more efficient with the limited number of people they have?
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly, and this is important because on one hand, you want to attract new talent, but you also need to help them to get used to the SMT process, and as more you automate your solutions, as more you make them really perfect to support the operator, as easy you can bring new talents into the process.
Speaker 2:And that's exactly what we have, and that's also, by the way, when you raise the question. I think we have introduced now the new pick and paste machine, the A40, which is a much faster solution rather than the Mi300 before. But we also introduced a new user interface and that's exactly something which we have developed in a way that it can either attract new talent to learn operating the machine with the new user interface, but on the other hand, we also kept what was proven before to also support people who are using the machines in history already over maybe two decades. So the user interface for Micronic is made for new talents, to get them close to the SMT process, and for also old people who are used to Micronic equipment that they still find their old environment and surrounding.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's very important, isn't it? And ease of use has become a huge thing. So when you look at the pick and place machines, I think traditionally we tend to think of Micronic as being that player that is very capable in the high mixing environment, but you're also becoming more popular in the high volume market as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, because definitely high mix volume is our home job. I think we can go down to batch size one and I think it's really important for us that we cover this market segment, because here is exactly we find the customers who are used to use Micronic equipment. But now with the new machine, where we increase in fact the raw speed by 48% with our new head, with our new high speed head, we can also cover the mid tier segment. We won't go into the high volume. I think here are competitors who are much better for the high volume business. But in the mid tier business, in the mid volume, together with the high flex, low volume, I think customers always find the perfect solution at Micronic.
Speaker 2:And you know why I think it's important is when customers invest in a line, they want to stay flexible. They sometimes have demand for high volume products but might be in a year from now there's no high volume product demand anymore. But then they still want to keep their lines working and then they can switch to high flex products. So they get flexibility when they're by Micronic. And that's what we want. We want to support customers being flexible in whatever they want to produce, whatever board they want to populate.
Speaker 1:And when we look at the environment, now that kind of dynamic approach from the EMS has to be there. They have to be ready to service the customer as volumes increase but also deal with that very complex mix. Last question when you look at where the markets you're serving at the moment, how have things shifted geographically? Geopolitics is starting to have such a big impact on our industry. Where are your big growth areas at the moment?
Speaker 2:So we are definitely. We see ourselves very strong in the Western world, in the Americas, in Europe. We see ourselves continuously growing, also in Eastern Europe, while this sort of reshoring happening. I think a lot of business comes back from China, not only because of geopolitical challenges, but it's also going back because customers want to produce closer to their factories and because they want to be in control of the process, control of partners. This is also why reshoring happens. But we are also strong in China and also in Southeast Asia. We see business growing a lot in India, for example now, where we have a strong footprint. We see business growing everywhere where EV business happens and for sure there's a lot in military, in aero, in medical. Whenever customers need high precision solutions, they come to Macronik and that means, in fact, we are used to sell in a global business.
Speaker 1:And it gives you this interesting niche where, if they know they're going to need flexibility down the line, they don't want to be fixed into a particular style of manufacturing. It's a really good solution.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Clemens, thank you for your time. Pleasure to chat to you about the technology and all the products you have here. Enjoy the rest of Productronica.