EMS@C-LEVEL
As Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and SCOOP writer, Philip Stoten, continues to talk to EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) executives he learns more about their individual and collective experiences and their expectations for their own businesses and for the entire electronic manufacturing industry.
EMS@C-LEVEL
Electronics 24: Navigating Slovenia's EMS Industry with SG Automotive's Klaus Schuster and Eric Miscoll
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
EMSNOW discusses Slovenia's thriving EMS industry with Klaus Schuster from SG Automotive. His company faces fierce competition to maintains its position in the automotive sector. Klaus discusses SGA's unique approach, offering a wide range of services from development to box building and catering to both large and small series manufacturing.
Learn how SGA leverages its strong customer relationships and high-quality standards to stand out in a challenging market environment. Klaus Schuster's passion for the industry shines through as he reveals the strategies that keep SGA stable and competitive. With the industry poised for significant growth in the coming years, Klaus provides valuable insights into strategic planning and resource investment. He addresses the mix of optimism and caution prevailing among industry professionals, highlighting the necessity for businesses to prepare now for future opportunities.
Whether you're an industry veteran or curious about the future of EMS in Slovenia, this episode offers a compelling glimpse into the exciting opportunities on the horizon.
EMS@C-Level at electronica 2024 was hosted by IPC (https://www.ipc.org/)
EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
Hello from the show floor of Electronic 2024 in lovely Munich, germany. I'm Eric Miske with EMS. Now Get to catch a little time with Voschustov, with SGA and EMS based in Slovenia, who we were able to visit and tour in the past year, which was a great experience. Why don't you just give a quick overview of SGA for the benefit of people, so they know who you are?
Speaker 2Okay, yeah, Thank you very much, eric, for the invitation. I'd like to be here in Munich together with you. Sga is an EMS company, basically offering all the services from development to manufacturing and assembly and, at the end, box building. We currently do some 20 million euro turnover and 130 employees. We are based in Slovenia, so on the sunny side of the Alps, remember, fantastic. Our customers are mainly automotive, so we do currently roughly 80% automotive business, 20% non-automotive.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's it. It's been a year, or within a year, since we visited you. How is the market developing for you? I'm trying to remember from the DITA Vice data how many EMS were in Slovenia in the competition within the country.
Speaker 2Yeah, there's quite a huge competition in the country. So I think we count some 15 EMSs in Slovenia. Basically, our competitors are in Germany because also our major customers are in Germany, but there are also customers in the eastern part of Europe. So Czech Republic, slovakia, yeah, and you know we.
Speaker 1Let me ask then what is the benefit, in your opinion, of manufacturing in Slovenia?
Speaker 2It's not about Slovenia, it's about SGA. What we do, what we do is basically we do what the large ones do, that one to do and the smell was count, Because you know, we are I-Def certified and we can also do smell serious. Oh, it's not just about millions and that's what our about millions and that's what our customers like.
Speaker 1And I was impressed. I remember walking through all of the equipment that you had in the facility. It was very impressive, just the various equipment set, which is part of the history of the company. It's an older company too.
Speaker 2It's an older company, but we came from automotive.
Speaker 1Right.
Speaker 2We are now slowly moving, so we don't want to go out of automotive, because this is still our core business and also our passion. But nevertheless, non-automotive customers, for instance, they appreciate the quality that we provide them coming from automotive, and this is what you can see and what we were talking about. You can see it all the time. You will remember there. Really, you know many will laugh when you say, okay, you're an AMS company where everything is clean, everything is in order, but I think you also visited a few where it doesn't look like that. Yeah, and this is my thing, and this is what customers, among many other things, mostly appreciate.
Speaker 1And your history was not from coming from EMS industry. Oh no, by far not. So you got, which is always interesting to me, because people who come from outside and take over bring a new view and a new lens on the industry and they may see some things that have been traditionally done one way and say, hey, maybe we can do it different.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah, but I think, especially in today's times, do it differently. Yeah, yeah, but I think especially in today's times, because today, when you can just see, here we're learning at the fair, there are so many competitors and basically they're all doing the same. So we at SGL, the Maldivar SGL, we tried to find our niche, and this niche means also that we had to focus more on the selling side of the business, Especially in 2024,. Everybody is suffering, business is going down, all is going down. We are focused on at least achieving the same result as we did in the last year.
Speaker 2Which, compared to what I see and what I hear, is pretty much okay. This means that we have to focus more on the sales side. We have to fight for each and every project. It's not just sitting at home on your couch sending an offer to a customer and then just wait.
Speaker 1Yeah, but yeah it is as it is. But that goes to an important point, and I mentioned the automation we saw. But, as we were talking before, and I think the point you just made, it's the people in the industry that make the difference. Still, we can all buy the same fancy equipment, you can set it up the same, but that doesn't mean your business will perform the same.
Speaker 2Look, what does the customer want us to do? You want to have a counterpart on the other side who understands your business, because the product that we deliver, the quality, the price, this is given. So if the customer places the purchase order and he also has many pieces for a certain price, under a certain condition, he has nothing to discuss. But the difference is done by the people behind.
Speaker 1Yeah, and their experience and their knowledge base, and then their relationships that they develop and foster, yeah.
Speaker 2And also, you know there are always hiccups and whenever something pops up, the customer doesn't want to talk to some answering machine yeah, yeah. Or send an email. He wants to pick up the phone call calls you on your mobile phone, doesn't matter whether he calls you at 4 machine, yeah, yeah. Or send an email. He wants to pick up the phone calls you on your mobile phone, doesn't matter whether he calls you at 4 pm or he calls you at 10 pm. Yeah, you have an issue, yeah, yeah. And then someone has to be there to solve the issue, not to explain what happened and to I don't know, complain about the whole stuff.
Speaker 1Now I know also, like you said before, the business is primarily automotive. It's your DNA and your passion, but you're also looking to grow in other areas too, right, yeah, yeah, we'll speak about that, yeah.
Speaker 2We as SGO Automotive, we have also some track record in other industries, for instance street lamps or lighting products, which were produced in the past. Today we work as a contract manufacturer. Then I mentioned at the very beginning box building. This is also something which makes sense, especially in Slovenia, because we see that the labor force is still cheaper than especially in the north part of Europe, so talking about Austria or Germany, so this really makes sense. And of course, again, it's sometimes the flexibility. Yeah, because we have a case where the customer does not send us, like an automotive EDIs and can forecast for the next two years, so you get purchased over in a very short period of time and if you just say, well, we can do it. Yeah, hello.
Speaker 1It's not a good answer. All right, that's not good.
Speaker 2Coming back to the issue you mentioned before, that's not good. Coming back to the issue you mentioned before it's people management. You need the people behind With the right mindset, saying, of course, this, we can do.
Speaker 1Yeah and we will. Somebody mentioned recently that in some countries there's, when there's a problem where to be done, some people say, oh no, it's weekend or not, we can't do it now, right. But then there are some countries and cultures that say, oh no, it gets done right, and that's what I'm hearing here too.
Speaker 2You have this culture and the mindset to do yeah, and it's not just my culture or my mindset, it's also the mindset of the people in our team, because they're not just customers or business partners, they're not just calling me, they call everybody. When you go to visit our booth, for instance, you can see there are a few young people there having such a smile and really they like to talk about what we do and what we can do for our business partners, and this is what I really appreciate.
Speaker 1Tom, before I let you go, 2024 has been a hard year for many people in the industry. 23 was ended. How's it looking? Moving forward, where's your optimism?
Industry Growth Forecast and Planning
Speaker 2Of course, you know, I'm that long in business that I would suffer, because there are always ups and downs, and whenever you are on the downside, then usually you suffer and then you think everything is a problem and the world doesn't exist tomorrow anymore. But that's by far not true. So, as I said before, now it's time to really roll up your sleeves and just to run, and then again, after a few, I would say, months, I don't expect that from January 1st on, everything will be better. But let's wait. Let's say mid of the year. Then we will for sure sit on the top of the wave, and the one that invest today into these resources, they will be even more on the top of this wave.
Speaker 1This I'm sure, and that seems to be the general consensus. I'm hearing from many people in the industry that it is going to be second half next year. We'll start seeing it, maybe not experiencing it fully, but hopefully that light is clear, correct.
Speaker 2This is what also we at SJC see. There are certain spots where you can see something goes up. But on the other side we get also feedback from customers where they say, yeah, we plan for next year this quantity we have to reduce. It is as it is yeah Again where will absolution be?
Speaker 1Roll up the sleeves, get to work. Yeah, that's it. Good. Well, I'm glad for the chance to get caught up. We're going to continue to watch you with great interest and hope to get to see you again, and I was very impressed with what we saw, and I wish you nothing but success. Hey, thank you so much.