EMS@C-LEVEL

Inside IPC: John Mitchell on Building the Future Electronics Workforce in a Changing World

• Philip Spagnoli Stoten

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The electronics manufacturing world stands at a critical intersection of talent challenges, AI transformation, and global trade uncertainties. This fascinating conversation with IPC CEO John Mitchell, recorded on the final day of APEX 2025, dives deep into how industry leaders are navigating these complex waters.

Talent acquisition and development remains the industry's perennial challenge. John offers a fresh perspective, suggesting that finding the mythical "pink unicorn" candidate with perfect qualifications is less effective than growing talent from within. "You hire somebody because they're the right fit, but if you don't keep investing in that person, they're no longer the right fit because technology keeps moving," he explains. This approach resonates with many manufacturers who've established internal training programs that attract candidates seeking alternatives to traditional university education and its associated debt.

Artificial intelligence implementation has emerged as both an opportunity and a concern. While electronics manufacturers are eager to harness AI's power, they're cautious about intellectual property protection. John delivers another memorable quotes: "AI is not going to take your job. The person next to you who knows how to use AI is going to take your job." The discussion explores how IPC is working to promote industry-specific AI solutions that protect proprietary information while leveraging investments in technologies like CFX that provide the quality data AI systems require.

Against the backdrop of what John and I both diplomatically call a "curious" global trade environment, electronics manufacturers crave stability more than specific political outcomes. The industry has always operated amid disruption, but consistent policy frameworks are essential for capital investments and expansion planning. As we navigate these uncertain waters, industry collaboration through organizations like IPC becomes increasingly vital. Join John and I for this thought-provoking exploration of electronics manufacturing's present challenges and future opportunities – and discover how industry leaders are designing for agility in an ever-changing landscape.

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

You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.

Philip Stoten:

Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. It's the last day of Apex 2025. I'm on the Koyang booth and I'm joined by John Mitchell from IPC. John, always such a pleasure to chat to you Thanks for having me. And I like the fact that we say this to the end of the show, because I've kind of got all my input from all the people I've spoken to. You've spoken to a heck of a lot of people too.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

Yeah, and when we do it at the end of the show, I can actually breathe a little bit. Yeah, that's it.

Philip Stoten:

I haven't got too much left to do. First of all, the show itself. I think everybody that I've spoken to seems pretty happy with it. There's been a good footfall in the aisles. It looks pretty good.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

I think business is going well. Like you said, foot traffic is up. Yesterday was surprisingly I mean large, so that was always pleasant to see that and we pride ourselves on the show of having actual decision makers coming. As opposed to trying to fill the aisles with lots of people that are asking questions but not really customers, if you will.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, maybe influencers, but not people that are going to sign purchase orders and checks. I've been talking to a lot of people on the EMS leadership side and, like you say, there have been plenty of them here, so that's been a great opportunity to kind of get a feel for what they're looking for. Every year, the subject of talent comes up, the subject of talent development, technology to mitigate talent shortages. That seems to be a key theme and that's a key theme that you really opened with at the EMS Leadership Summit this year.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

Yeah, it is important we need to. So talent and the issue of talent is pervasive. It's not just trying to find just new talent, it's also making sure that we have this, bringing the skills to our current talent. I talk about often where you hire somebody because they're the right fit, but if you don't keep investing in that person, they're no longer the right fit because technology industry, it just keeps moving and advancing. So we have to keep building the people we have and sometimes it's hard to find. You know, I often refer to it as a pink unicorn if we're looking for.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

Oh, I want somebody that has this expertise and they've done this and they have this and that's hard to find it's hard enough to find a unicorn, never mind a pink one. Yeah, so you know I really advocate for let's find some people with the basic talents and grow them into that pink unicorn, I think it is really the key there.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, I've spoken to a lot of companies that have really embraced that strategy and almost have their own training schools and almost like a college within the organization and they're actually telling me that they're finding a lot of people don't want to go to college, don't want to rack up a lot of debt, and they're okay with that because they're happy to take those people that aren't going to university and they're happy to mold them and train them themselves and a lot of those people have really got a get-up-and-go talent kind of the right EQ, the right skills that they need to get them going in the industry.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

Yeah, I think there's a mix. You know, we need some formalized training for certain types of professions, but also, like you said, if somebody shows an aptitude and an interest, let's grow that. And part of what IPC does on our education programs is we take that knowledge from not just one professor's opinion, but we take it from the entire industry, hundreds of companies inputting to that, so that, you know, I think a lot of companies, out of necessity, have had to learn how to do training but it's not their core competency, and so that's why, you know, ipc, on behalf of the, the industry, keeps investing in that so that they can. You know, hey, we can get a lot of good value from this, and obviously there's the specific stuff you're going to have to do internally, but we try again to help the industry by supporting that in an area that may not be the place that they want to invest most in.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, yeah, John, one of the reasons you've had more people here is quite a few of the EMS companies I've spoken to have said we sent extra people to this show because we have one thing that we're trying to figure out. We're trying to figure out where we're going with AI. We're trying to figure out who's going to guide us through this world. We're wondering whether there's going to be some standards and some guardrails within there. They really want to embrace it, but they don't want to go in the wrong direction. They don't want to make a mistake.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

Yeah, ai. I think the biggest thing slowing up industry on AI is, of course, the IP protection piece of it, as we're trying from a skill set absolutely everyone, everyone, I don't care if you have 45 years of experience in the industry, you should be developing some AI skills so that you can just get better. It's like learning how to use Excel versus you know, lotus 1, 2, 3, whatever it was, or you know just a word processor instead of a typewriter, you know it's just that next evolution of skills that we need.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

And it's funny, I'm going to quote my wife. How about that? She's like she goes AI, she goes I heard this somewhere, so she's not taking credit for it, but she goes AI. Is not going to take your job.

Philip Stoten:

The person next to you who knows how to use AI is going to take your job.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

And so we just need to be developing those skills. But the IP aspect as a company that's really the big challenge is how do we keep it from the proprietary information getting out into the wild and how do we bring those LLMs internally to our company, and IPC is looking at doing that very same thing. How can we do and bring in a proprietary LLM for the industry so you don't get garbage when you ask the wrong questions or the right questions?

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, I think, when I look at AI, obviously the data that it's trained on, but the data that it has access to at a specific time is the secret to its success, and I think it's really important. I think what's really interesting is an ingredient technology that we were focused on for industry 4.0, which is CFX, is hugely valuable for the adoption and the application of AI.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

That's right. It's gathering information we have good data. And having good data is key to it. Having compute power is key to it. Having accessibility so all of these things are coming together and now is the time.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, absolutely Last thing. We're in a very curious trade environment. We're in a very curious political environment.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

That's a good term, curious, I like that, yeah, a little bit of concern about the economy.

Philip Stoten:

as a result of these things, it feels like we should be coming together at a show like this every second week at the moment, because stuff is moving so fast when we're not not at a show. How do you make sure that you're on top of that and you keep your members across?

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

it. So we have, um, people everywhere around the world and we're and I shouldn't say everywhere everywhere where our electronics is, we're there. And so we're trying to monitor the responses of countries, the, the activities of countries, et cetera. Largely we're counseling or asking people don't immediately react to things, because things, like you said, are changing so fast. A too quick of a move could be the wrong move. And so you know, an announcement today or a threat of something tomorrow may never materialize, but you need to be ready for all of those things.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

So we listen, we have our government relations. Folks are working with various governments around the world and trying to understand and inform. You know, hey, you realize, if you do this you're going to have impacts to the electronics industry, which is really the resource for every industry, and so you don't want to screw up your electronics strategy, no matter who you are. And so we're trying to help get that message out. Ipc and the board has been gracious enough. We're investing more in communications. We're trying to get the word out there to policymakers, to other industries et cetera, so they can understand how critical these decisions are to. It may not feel like it's directly impacted, but at a minimum it's indirectly if not directly.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, and the fact that you're bringing everybody together, the amazing work Sanjay has done to build out the European team, to build out teams everywhere, is really paying dividends and really adding value. It's good to hear One of the things that a particular EMS leader said to me when I talked to him about all this. Disruption is like hasn't it always been so? Aren't we used to disruption? Shouldn't we just be designing for agility? As a business that's right.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

If anybody's ready for disruption, it's our industry, because technologically we're constantly disrupting ourselves, but we need to. You know it'd be nice if, everywhere you turned, you didn't have something else being disrupted.

Philip Stoten:

Yeah, yeah, no, I think a little bit, a little bit when I when I look at the tariff situation. It's really interesting when you talk to people. A lot of people aren't looking for a specific outcome and concerned about a specific outcome. They just want an outcome. They want stability. The industry craves that, particularly from a capital investment point of view, particularly from a planning plant expansion point of view.

John Mitchell, IPC President & CEO:

What geography do they need to be in. Businesses abhor inconsistency. It just causes businesses to pause, which causes the economy to pause, which is not a good thing.

Philip Stoten:

So let's hope for some more stability. Keep doing what you're doing here. It's important and good work and I appreciate you. Thank you, thanks for having me.