Crisis-Proof Manufacturing: InCap's Otto Pukk Talks Tariffs, Trade Wars and Talent in an Agile Global EMS

Amid global economic uncertainty and shifting trade policies, how do manufacturing companies navigate choppy waters? Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap joins us to reveal the advantages of a decentralized leadership approach during turbulent times.

"There is always some crisis and always some turbulence," Otto reflects with refreshing pragmatism. Rather than centralizing control, InCap has thrived by empowering local management teams across their global facilities. "We have excellent management teams in each unit that are experts on the local conditions and can navigate through that," he explains. This distributed leadership model has become their secret sauce in responding quickly to regional challenges without waiting for headquarters directives.

The financial results speak volumes. While many European EMS companies struggle, InCap reports strong growth and impressive EBITDA margins. Their ultra-lean headquarters—just 10 square meters in Helsinki with a team of seven—minimizes overhead costs that typically eat into profits. Looking ahead to 2025, Otto acknowledges the market hesitancy as everyone waits to see "what are the rules of the game" regarding tariffs and trade policies, but remains optimistic about growth prospects once conditions stabilize. 

Perhaps most valuably, he highlights the collaborative spirit within the electronics manufacturing community, where competitors often share knowledge to solve common challenges. "It's a small, very small community actually... you don't need to be afraid to share your experience."

Ready to rethink your company's approach to global uncertainty? Listen now and discover how culture and organizational structure might be your greatest asset in unpredictable times.

EMS@C-Level Live at APEX is sponsored by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Creative Electron (https://creativeelectron.com)

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.

Transcript

Meeting Otto from Incap

Philip Stoten 0:08

Hello , I'm Philip Stoughton . I'm on the Creative Electron booth at APEX 2025 and I'm joined by Otto from Incap . Otto , always great to see you , my friend .

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 0:18

Yes , always great to see you as well , thank you .

Navigating geopolitical turmoil

Philip Stoten 0:22

We seem to be in a bit of a state of turmoil in terms of geopolitics , in terms of politics generally , but also in terms of economics . We don't really know what's going on . When you look at that situation , is there a particular outcome you're looking for , or do you just need a bit of stability and clarity so you can plan ?

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 0:44

The world is an interesting place currently , for sure , but I try to remind myself of that . There is always some crisis and there is always some kind of turbulence , and so either you accept it and try to find solutions and opportunities in that , or you will have a very tough time . And I think now is the same thing , that the markets are a little bit turbulent and perhaps a little bit hesitant currently with all the new tariffs , and so that the new administration here in the US is or is perhaps putting on things and perhaps not . So , yeah , let's give it a little bit of time and then see how it settles .

Philip Stoten 1:28

Yeah , I think it's really fascinating . I think what's interesting when I look

Incap's decentralized business model

Philip Stoten 1:31

at the last five years of in-cap history , it feels like you've created a certain amount of readiness for this situation . What's important , when the world is perhaps more turbulent and there is confusion over where it's best to manufacture , you need a footprint that's agile . You need a footprint that's located in various different areas . You have a footprint within the US , so if there are tariffs on everybody outside the US , you still have an option . Is that something you were consciously building for agility ?

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 2:03

Yeah , no , that is something we have looked into , that we have gone there , of course , where there's good markets in general , but also in-caps decentralized model . I think here is a strength in this kind of crisis . It's not so that we're sitting somewhere in headquarters and trying to figure out all the world problems . We have excellent management teams in each unit that are experts on the local conditions and can navigate through that . So I think the crisis have shown that it's a strength in the model as well .

Philip Stoten 2:31

Yeah , I think that's really important , isn't it ? It's kind of the way you do the business , but it's also the culture of the business and the fact that you have given that autonomy to the different units and they can actually run their own business and control a little bit of their own destiny .

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 2:47

Yeah , no , exactly . I think that is a key thing for us also moving forward , that we want to continue to scale up this model and so forth . It has been very successful .

Philip Stoten 2:57

Yeah , I spoke to Antti I think it was the day before yesterday your CFO about last year's results when they came out . You're kind of bucking the trend a little bit of what European EMS companies are feeling and I think of you now as much more of a global company rather than a European company , but strong growth , particularly in the last quarter , and a really good EBITDA

Financial performance and market position

Philip Stoten 3:23

.

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 3:23

Yeah , no , I think the EBITDA comes from how we are organized . We have a very lean headquarters , so we have a barely square 10 square meters in Helsinki and two guys working there Seven we are in total in different headquarters resources . Of course , that doesn't eat a lot of the profit , and so I think that is the key to keep it lean and efficient in that sense . But then if you look at the growth , I think we had a bigger hit two years ago when our biggest customers had overstocked them , and so we were a little bit early compared to where many others having the same problems last year . And also , if you look at that , we are very often compared to our Scandinavian peers . But but actually we only have one factory catering to roughly 30 million of our turnover .

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 4:17

So it's not very much that actually , we catered into Scandinavia and to our , so to say , home market . So , no , we are very happy with the outcome , of course , and look forward to this year as well .

Philip Stoten 4:31

Yeah , I was going to ask you about this year , those customers that were early in terms of pulling back their orders because they had stock . Have they started to order again ? Have they ? Have they pulled down the stock they had ?

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 4:44

yeah , in that sense , the distro exercise we had with our biggest customer , that that I would say now is is is over and we are looking at some kind of new normality when it comes to the volumes and so on . And we see this this year as well , that that overall we are looking at some kind of new normality when it comes to the volumes and so on , and we see this year as well that overall we are still expecting growth this year , even if there is a little bit hesitation now in the first half of the year , but overall it looks still very positive , I would say .

Industry outlook and leadership summit

Philip Stoten 5:10

Yeah , it looks like there's potential there . Generally , people are telling me they're expecting a fairly flat first half of the year and an uptick later on . Are you ahead of that trend as well ? Are you seeing the uptick already ?

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 5:21

No , I think that that also is what we are seeing that the market is hesitant . Everybody's waiting on what are the rules of the game this year , with all the tariffs and trade wars and other things , and once that has settled , I think business will return much to normal . Yeah .

Philip Stoten 5:38

Last question You're at the EMS Leadership Summit here . It's nice to be here as a leader of a business headquartered in Europe , being amongst your American peers , including your American team . How did you feel about the event ? Was there takeaways there that were really valuable for you ?

Otto Pukk, President & CEO of InCap 5:57

I think always it's interesting to be here and for me , I think , the roundtables that we have , the discussion we have in between the different EMS companies , that is , I think , the most valuable part of it and meeting people and speaking openly . No electronics , it's an interesting market in that sense and everybody knows each other and it's a small , very small community actually . It's small in Europe and it's small here and it's small worldwide . So I think that gives a lot of comfort that you have people that you can reach out to . They might be competitors sometimes , might be your partners in other cases , but you can share knowledge and have general discussion because many of the problems we have are , in that sense , common for everybody and you don't need to be afraid to share your experience .

Philip Stoten 6:51

Yeah , no , I'll tell you . You've always been open in terms of the way you collaborate with people and you've always been really generous with your time with the IPC . Thanks so much for sitting down with me . It's always a pleasure to chat . Always a pleasure , bill .