Want to get a pulse on the European PCB industry? You've landed in just the right place! Our guest, André Bodegom, Managing Director of Adeon Technologies and our host for this week, offers an intriguing perspective on the current state and future trends of this constantly evolving industry. Together, we navigate through the increasing role of automation and data tracking in PCB manufacturing, shedding light on how companies are overcoming the challenges of labor shortage and leveraging technology to stay competitive.
As we venture deeper, André further reveals his insights on the rise of Injet solder mask technology and how it's revolutionizing PCB manufacturing. But it's not all sunshine. Andre candidly discusses the mixed market signals indicating low growth and potential for consolidation. Amidst these shifting sands, he shares how companies are finding their niches and carving a path towards success. As we wrap up, we probe into the future of manufacturing in Europe, offering thought-provoking forecasts and more than a little optimism.
PCB@C-Level was generously hosted at productronica 2023 by Adeon technologies, and André was the man who made it all happen, thanks André, you're a legend! Learn more at https://www.adeon.nl
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:
Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I am on the Adion Technologies booth and I am joined by our very kind host, andre. Andre, first of all, big thank you. We've really appreciated being here on your booth this week and it's been a pleasure to talk to the great and good of the European PCB industry. Before we dig into some of the trends they've highlighted, I just wanted to see how the show had been for you. The booth has been busy and vibrant. It looks like you've got a whole bunch of students here as well today, having a good look at what we want them. Absolutely. What have people been talking to you about at the show? What are they looking for? Is automation a theme? What are the indicators that you're seeing the market is on the move.
Speaker 2:
As we say, we see that the economy in general in PCB country has not been fantastic all over. However, for us it's been a very busy time anyway. We've specialized a lot of development in automation stuff that we've been talking about for a long time, but automation has now made its integration into a lot of equipment. You can see that people struggle to find operators, find people to run things, but also the intelligence behind that, like the data tracking of the machine generated data that is now being pulled back for analysis. We see a lot of developments in that area that people are very interested in learning more about. What are the machines actually doing and what can I do with that data generated by the machines to improve my process from the first step when I get new jobs in. But also, yeah, new type of technology. I think the Injet solder mask is really making its way in now and obviously we've seen that. We know now of one huge new factory coming at La Tonica, for which we are gratefully took a lot of orders.
Speaker 2:
But this is the first time in my 30 years in this industry that I have been speaking to four potential new PCB factories in Europe, but at the same time, it's not all sunshine. One has to say that realistically. We've seen the UK some shops closing. We've seen some larger shops who are not fully filled up with work, so the market is a little bit on the move. There's a little bit of unrest, but overall there's a lot of positive feedback and a lot of positive vibes about where we want to go. I don't ever think we will see volume manufacturing coming back. We've always said that but there is definitely a trend that manufacturing has been taking more and more seriously than in Europe.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, and I think that's really important and there are a few points to unpack there. I think the automation trend and the digital transformation trend is huge and actually being able to use that data and plug that in helps. The automation is going to help with the shortage of people and the trend with respect to stuff coming back. I think in certain critical industries we're going to see that and it's not the high volume consumer markets, clearly, because we can't compete on that basis. But there are other areas where that's where that's there and it's really encouraging to hear that there are people that are actually building greenfield sites and and thinking of opening new factories here. I think that's really interesting. When you talk to your customers, do they talk to you about the niche they're in, the technology requirement they have and which technologies are more likely to stay here than go offshore?
Speaker 2:
The market in Europe is pretty overseaable for us. So most of the customers we know, we know what they're doing and we just find ourselves very proud to be contacted always in an early stage of any new type of developments. So, yes, we are being requested to go also into final lines. But, as I mentioned, is that the data generation by machines and what are we going to do to analyze, to make the product better, increase yields at lower cost is, I think, the main trend with the automation.
Speaker 1:
The other question that came up from one or two of the printed targetball companies was kind of critical mass, I guess. And you know, 20 years ago we were 20% of the world's production, now we're two and a half to three percent. That consolidation makes it even more important for them to partner with companies like you that can represent a vast number of manufacturers.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, yeah we I always say we stumbled over the borders.
Speaker 2:
It was never a plan. When we started, we had a lot, of, a lot of work from a certain company in Holland who basically disappeared in two, three years time. That was early 90s. So we then went into Germany, we went into the UK, we went into the rest of Europe and very early on I noticed that we could only do this with a serious plan behind it, because sitting by the phone, waiting for the phone to ring to send an engineer somewhere is going to be a very costly event and not very efficient. So we've developed for all our suppliers, all our products, really predictive maintenance schedules based also focused on on each different customer. Yeah, and that, and indeed, with the market slowing down or getting smaller and we lost 70 percent of the market maybe over the last 30 years it has given us the opportunity to to cover the whole area, work with the right type of suppliers yeah and be become where we are now, which makes us actually very proud, given the compliments we we also have received this week.
Speaker 1:
So yeah, and absolutely it feels like you've become like a fulcrum for the industry and it's not just important for you to have those great relationships you have with the board shops, but also those great relationships that you have with the capital equipment suppliers, because I see you not only as the person that supplies that equipment, but you are the voice of customer. You're the feedback loop back to the supplier. Do they listen to Andre? Do they say you know Andre's with a lot of our customers or your team are with a lot of our customers?
Speaker 2:
let's talk to him about what's going on and what the market needs next this is definitely so and and I also like to believe that this is the type of suppliers that we have. We are very blessed to have the suppliers that we have because they do also fair to say that we we we parted from one supplier where we did not get that achievement at all, but especially in the field of AOI, the field of direct imaging, but all over, even though we're a very small market in Europe, we're very diverse. We have a lot of demand. We want everything now. We want to do it 30 times a day. So it's interesting out to see that our suppliers have embraced that very seriously in saying well to, in order to, if we can, if we can cover and if we can support the european style of the market. That basically gives us a good basis to build up for the rest of the world, because even though you are small, it's very cost-driven but you're very intense in in the development and the branding.
Speaker 1:
Yeah, yeah, no, I think you make a very good point. If they can make it here, they can make it anywhere. To take a quote from Frank Sinatra thanks again for having us here. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thanks for talking to me and we'll talk again soon. Enjoy the rest of the day. Thank you very much.