Ever wonder how a multinational team spanning across Sweden, Japan, France, and the Czech Republic plans their R&D to ensure they deliver game-changing solutions for their customers? This episode sees us chatting with Robert Helleday, Mycronic's Head of Research & Development, who offers a glimpse into their strategic R&D planning which leverages diverse perspectives and skill sets from different parts of the world, alongside the voice of their customers. Robert's insights demonstrate how understanding and keeping the customer's needs at the center of the process is crucial in creating standout products that deliver the maximum value to the user.
As the conversation evolves, we wade into the digital age and explore how industries are being transformed by data-driven processes and artificial intelligence (AI). We dive into Mycronic's approach to this change, particularly their integration of AI into their own R&D process. From boosting internal productivity to revolutionizing the inspection process, Robert reveals intriguing ways AI can be used as a tool to free up human time and enhance efficiency in factories.
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.
Speaker 1:
So, robert, I really wanted to talk about how Micronic developed their products. I've always kind of seen them as seeing you as a kind of an innovator, but quite a brave innovator. When I look at what you're doing with inkjet and stuff like that, you're pushing boundaries, pushing frontiers. How do you plan your R&D?
Speaker 2:
You know, Phil, we plan it so that how can we make the most gains for the customers in reality? For instance, this is how we developed the new head that we just released today. We have a team of engineers in Sweden, in Japan, in France and also in Czech Republic. So by combining these different competences and way of looking at the world, we can really combine that to make a really outstanding product. We can have views on how to do things from many different angles and then, by looking at the needs of our customers, we can really make that something that really makes a difference in reality, not just in the spec sheet.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely yeah. It doesn't want to be blue sky, it wants to be solving problems. And how are you able to get that voice of customer? Do you, as kind of the R&D lead, get out amongst your customers, talk to them about their roadmaps? Are you looking at the components that are coming down the line that you know they're going to have to place, even though they haven't seen them yet?
Speaker 2:
You know I've been in the industry for 27 years. This is my 14th product, ronica, so a lot of course I know. But we have a strong, strong collaboration with the sales team and the service team and the product management team and so on, so that we all contribute to see what are the needs that we need to fulfill. So it's not just a one man show. This Absolutely.
Speaker 1:
And you know, when I look at what's going on in terms of R&D at the moment, 10 years in, we've been talking about digital transformation and industry 4.0, I still wonder whether we've really had a digital dividend and we've really, you know, kind of nailed that one. Now everybody's talking about AI. The bottom line with all of that is everything's driven by data. So how do you look at that and how is that informing your R&D cycle at the moment?
Speaker 2:
Yeah, I mean and we share that with not only the high flex division that I'm in, but also with the other divisions of Micronic and that is that the industry is more and more, as you say, data driven, and I think that we've been talking about the industry 4.0 for many years. It's a gradual process. It's not a revolution, it's a gradual, but what we share is how to collect the data and manage the data from customers in a secure way, with their acceptance, of course, and so on. That we share and we work together within the company between the divisions to do that. But also this data, how can this be used to really give customer value?
Speaker 2:
And one thing, as you mentioned, is artificial intelligence, and artificial intelligence is kind of a buzzword sometimes. We can also talk about machine learning and other things, but we can use that to really simplify how things work in production. The first things that we will see in the products is within the inspection equipment, where you have people today in the factories, human persons looking at pictures and saying is this good or bad, and so on. And with artificial intelligence, machine learning and so on, we can free up that time to do other stuff. So that is one thing that we will see. Another thing that we're working on is also how to improve the internal productivity in the R&D itself by using AI tools. We all know about chat, gpt, right. That is one example, but there are also other things that is already now or coming that will simplify how to program and so forth and to generate R&D with the help of AI to create the product.
Speaker 1:
It's a really interesting scenario with AI that you're. It's a tool for you to use. It's a tool for you to leverage and develop for your customers, and it's really interesting to see what it can do. You mentioned the example of inspection. The key there becomes data sets, learning sets. For that AI, you have to have the images in place to do that, so you have to harvest them.
Speaker 2:
You need to have the images, but you also need to have the tagged images. So that is an image, is this good or bad? So you need to have that. As you say, the training set and so on. Now I think that we have had a program for many years where we have people trained, especially in AI or machine learning. In the US that belongs to my organization and now we really can harvest that investment. So I have specialists, really specialists, that are deeply trained in this. So now we will see coming out new things, both on the product side but also for us as tools to use in our internal work.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, absolutely. That's really interesting and when you're doing R&D, as you mentioned, you've absolutely got to reflect the demands and trends in the industry. We're seeing a reshoring trend, but I think that trend is a little bit threatened by talent issues. So one of the issues that I think EMS companies in particular have is how do we grow our business and scale to meet those reshoring issues whilst becoming more efficient and doing that with probably the same headcount? Is that something that you consider?
Speaker 2:
Yes, of course. Actually, we've been considering that for a long time, and we call it de-skilling of the process, so that how to make somebody able to use our equipment as easily as possible without so much training. I mean, you can take the jet printer, for instance. You can use that as a simple device if you like, just push play, it will do everything automatically. You can also do it much more advanced if you like, but there should always be some easy way to do what you need to do. And I think that's important because talent issues everybody has more or less right, and people can quit their job and come back, and you need to get your line up and running as quickly as possible. So I think that that is an important cornerstone that we've been working with since pretty much always, but now it's become critical, hasn't it?
Speaker 1:
It's critical to that.
Speaker 2:
And today in the show here, it's not one customer but many customers that came to me and said you know we have these issues with, you know how to get people and so on, and you know, okay, so we have solutions. But we have a new graphical user interface now for the Pick-A-Place machine, for instance, that is designed with this in mind.
Speaker 1:
And I just like the idea that, where maybe there were two or three people on the line, you can now have two or three people maybe managing five lines and actually just getting out onto line where there are specific issues, and that's bringing that data in and sharing that data and providing everybody with the dashboard they need.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, that is one thing, but you also need to consider one of the major things that this sort of can be troublesome in the factory is the material flow. So how to get that? Also, how to you have machines, they are fast, they are efficient and so on, but how to feed that with components, with the right components in the right time and so on. And here we also have a thinking about material handling at Micronik, with the tower solutions, with our feeders and so on, everything integrated so that you really can feed the machine in an easy way as well, with the components needed, because sometimes the line is standing still because there's somebody searching for a component that is lost somewhere.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, that's bad news. That's very expensive. What I think is really key for a company like Micronik, though, is that when you look at R&D, you can take a holistic view, because you do get involved in so many different parts of the line and in the way parts move around the factory. That must be very satisfying for you with the R&D team, because you know when you're doing something on placement you've got a team that's aware of the impact it has on either side of the machine.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, absolutely. I mean we have the jet printer now, we also have the screen printer and we have the SPI. So you know we have control of that part. We have the picking place machine and the AOI, so that is good. And we have, as I said, the tower solution with the material handling. So that means that when we deliver to customers, we can deliver pretty much a full solution to them, and then they come. You know, we have that communication with the customers as well.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, so I think what's exciting, what's clear rubber is, your job isn't going to get any easier. It'll continue to be challenging, but you have the team to do it.
Speaker 2:
That's what we live for. You know challenge is fun and you know you can never stand still and it's, you know, what we like sometimes when we work and it's something really difficult to complex to solve.
Speaker 1:
So this is a present, it's a gift to us, yeah you know, and when you produce a solution, it's just immensely satisfying, isn't it absolutely?
Speaker 2:
When part of my team can be here and see the reactions of the new equipment that we have today, for instance, that's really good, fantastic, robert.
Speaker 1:
Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks so much for your time and we'll chat soon. Thank you.