The Only Thing That Has Changed is Everything: A Conversation with Amtech CEO Jay Patel

What truly sets successful electronics manufacturing companies apart in times of global uncertainty? Find out as I speaks with Jay Patel of Amtech at APEX 2025 in this thought-provoking conversation about leadership, adaptation, and competitive advantage in the EMS industry.

The past year has brought extraordinary change – from political shifts to escalating trade wars – yet Patel maintains the refreshing perspective that disruption creates opportunity for those bold enough to embrace it. "Only one thing has changed and that's everything," he observes, capturing the perpetual state of transformation that characterizes modern manufacturing. Rather than viewing challenges as burdens, Patel reframes them as the very reason the industry exists: solving complex problems for their customers requires talented professionals.

The discussion explores the psychological dimension of leadership, highlighting how distinguishing between personal shortcomings and industry-wide challenges transforms morale and effectiveness. Patel shares insights gleaned from the EMS Leadership Summit, where peer-to-peer exchanges provide both practical solutions and validation that others face similar obstacles. While Amtech focuses on specific non-consumer market segments with potential for reshoring growth, the conversation reveals a deeper truth about manufacturing excellence.

"Our competitive advantage is not the gear that we have," Patel emphasizes. "It is the culture that we build." This profound insight challenges any assumption that technological superiority alone determines success. In an industry where equipment and capability become table stakes, with numerous vendors offering similar solutions, organizational culture emerges as the decisive competitive edge. The integration of advanced technologies like AI and IoT matters, but primarily as tools that free people to focus on delivering exceptional customer value.

Ready to rethink what drives manufacturing success? Listen now and discover why your company culture might be more valuable than your equipment lineup. 

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 at APEX 2025

Philip Stoten 0:08

Hello, I'm Philip Stojan. I'm at APEX 2025. Today I'm on the Creative Electron booth and I'm joined by Jay Patel from Amtech. Jay, great to see you again. We chatted last year. Yeah yeah, it's been a strange year since then, hasn't it? We've had the US election. Yeah, yeah, it's been a strange year since then, hasn't it? We've had the US election. We're now into all kinds of trade wars. That could be great for US business, who knows?

Opportunity in Chaos

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 0:32

Yeah, you know how are you feeling. Only one thing has changed and that's everything. Yeah, that's it. So I think you know there's all the great leaders and the people who have made impacts always look at opportunity at every corner and I think right now there is a lot of chaos, but I think the people who can digest it and kind of get some different strategies going there is going to be opportunities one way or another that come out of this. As EMS leaders in the industry, and specifically for me, for Amtech, we have been looking at how we can leverage this to our I think it was yesterday when we were talking about all these issues and they're like hasn't there always been disruptions in our industry?

Philip Stoten 1:28

Hasn't it always been like this? Maybe it's a little bit more so and there's a little bit more uncertainty right now, but yeah, navigating choppy waters is kind of what we do and that's why we employ.

EMS Leadership Summit Insights

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 1:40

So if there weren't any problems, we wouldn't need so many people we employ. So if there weren't any problems, we wouldn't need so many people, we wouldn't have jobs. So there are problems and the problems change and we have to answer the call of the moment.

Philip Stoten 1:50

Yeah, and I saw you on Monday evening as you were coming out of the EMS Leadership Summit and I was able to poke my head a little bit in during the day and see what was going on Lots of really good dialogue.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 2:11

How important for you is it to be able to talk to your peers and find out whether they have the same pain points and if they're using different methods to navigate those? So I think to understand the pain points and more than that, is also try to get some insight in some of the solutions.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 2:18

Sometimes they're just really common sense solutions that you never thought of and that happens a lot of the time, maybe for me more than anybody else, but like it happens a lot and I think a lot of it is validation that you know there are always things that are wrong and go wrong and that are challenging and sometimes you have to understand that it's not a you issue. It's just that this is the nature of the industry issue, because if you feel like it's a you issue, it can become very daunting.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 2:44

Is the nature of the industry issue because if you feel like it's a you issue, it can become very daunting. Yeah, and uh, it really affects the way and your, your approach to work, approach to day-to-day work. If you take, if you take the identity of your work and a lot of leaders and a lot of employees do want to do a good job and take the identity of their, of what they do on a day-to-day basis and, uh, if we can clarify that it's not a you issue but it's an industry issue, it really helps us change the morale and the approach and the outlook and the energy towards these different issues.

Philip Stoten 3:10

Yeah, so when you're talking to your peers, are they kind of I'm obviously sharing their experience and it feels like everybody's in the same area? I was talking to Alison, who chaired the event earlier this morning, and I said you know, the thing about the EMS industry is you're all unique and you're all the same. Yeah, so you have a lot of common problems, but quite often dealing with them differently. Did you see some new solutions and, you know, were there topics there that you felt you could really dig into?

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 3:46

I think there were a few new approaches to it and also there's also just a lot of reinforcement of what the solutions were that we learned last year or previous to that.

Philip Stoten 3:57

Yeah, I think that makes perfect sense, doesn't it? So what do you see as your key challenges and your key opportunities? Are there particular markets that you're needing to be in a little bit more because they've got more potential?

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 4:10

So I think you know the way that Amtech, our market, is, is that we do non-ITAR and non-consumer industries, and so we are. So the market opportunities for those. A little bit. There may be a little bit of onshoring, but still, regardless of onshoring, I think there's a lot of opportunity there for us. So we were just learning on how to service those customers and provide solutions in this chaotic area for them a little bit more.

Philip Stoten 4:39

And when you look at those opportunities and perhaps the opportunity to grow, do you have access to talent or do you need to use automation to mitigate that lack of access?

Culture as Competitive Advantage

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 4:48

I think there's always a combination of technology and people that you need to integrate at, and there are some things that there's new technologies that free people up from doing the mundane so we can focus on customer solutions, and there's a lot of new technologies coming out there at such a rapid pace and not to beat the buzzword of the moment. But AI is out there, iot is out there. We want to make sure that we're able to integrate that in to our workforce. But I think fundamentally, it always goes down to is are you attracting the right customers? And talent and attraction means that when they see your organization, do they feel excited, do they feel like this could be a possible home? And that starts with first intention strategy and then you've got to create a culture of that.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 5:41

Yeah, I was going to say culture is a huge part of that. So really, it doesn't matter what era you're in, it doesn't matter what troubled waters you're in at that moment. If you don't have a strong culture, there's no other magic bullet. I think, talking to the EMS Summit and talking to other people, at the end of the day, as leaders, we have to realize that our competitive advantage is not the gear that we have. It is the culture that we build and the people that we have and the people that we have to help us establish that culture. That makes it. Because I mean, how many pick and place companies are here?

Philip Stoten 6:18

Yeah, there's a dozen, there's a dozen.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 6:25

AOI there's a dozen, there's a dozen, aoi there's a dozen. So those things do help you, but and to a certain extent they do help you and give you an advantage, but it's always about how you your, your organization is structured.

Philip Stoten 6:32

Jay the kit feels like it's more table stakes. It feels like having having a good line, being able to produce quality, actually being able to perform to price is table stakes. As you say, what elevates you above that is that culture and the way you serve as your customers. It's great to talk to peers, but it's even better to spend time with your customers, understanding them.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 6:55

Yeah, and working with peers, we can say, hey, I had a customer wanted this, how would you guys solve this type of situation? And they were able to walk us through that process. So it was. Those type of conversations are as valuable as any other conversation.

Peer Support and Information Sharing

Philip Stoten 7:12

I think what's interesting is the companies that attend the EMS Leadership Summit are kind of all of a size you know you're not seeing the Flexes and the J-Builds and even the Benchmarks Flexes is in there, so much You're seeing much of the small ones. You're in different geographies. You're very rarely direct competitors, so you can be really kind of open and honest with people and you're not kind of yeah it's like a nice group, hug that we all we all support each other to understand what we're all going through.

Philip Stoten 7:45

So yeah, half information, half therapy. I yeah, I love that yeah I kind, I kind of see every interview I do as a therapy yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jay Patel, CEO of Amtech 7:52

Well, you're a good listener, I I appreciate that I.

Philip Stoten 7:56

I enjoy it and it's hugely valuable. Jay, thanks so much for talking to me again. Look forward to doing this again next time. Thank you very much.