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
Why Connecting Machines And Companies Unlocks Real Factory Value with Koh Young's Michael Zahn and Joel Scutchfield
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The floor at Productronica hummed with a cautious optimism: after nearly two years of headwinds, signs of a turn are appearing in Europe. I sat down with Koh Young’s Michael Zahn and Joel Scutchfield to compare notes across Europe, the US, and Mexico—where industrial electronics, defense, smart home, and heating systems are on the rise while automotive remains subdued. What stood out wasn’t just where orders are coming from, but who is moving first: midsize EMS firms and privately owned manufacturers are investing ahead of the curve, seeking fast payback and dependable support.
Underneath the market pulse is a sharper question customers keep asking: what can we do with the data? High-fidelity inspection images are table stakes; the real value arrives when those images become insight that drives action. Michael and Joel walk through how applied AI delivers measurable outcomes—shorter setup times, preemptive process correction, and fewer defects—making productivity gains visible in hours saved and scrap avoided. The conversation cuts through hype: it’s not “do you have AI,” but “what has AI done for the line this week?”
Collaboration is the hinge that makes it all work. Beyond connecting machines, manufacturers are connecting companies and teams, breaking the habits of siloed optimization. Partnerships with players like Fuji and Cybord show how shared data and agreed response rules enable closed-loop control across printer, SPI, placement, and MES. That’s where a real tipping point forms: consistent global messaging, common data models, and cross-vendor feedback loops that accelerate time-to-stable and lift yield across shifts, lots, and sites.
If you’re aiming to turn smart factory ambition into repeatable results, this conversation maps the next steps: insight layers over raw data, ROI you can measure week by week, and collaborations that compound. Subscribe, share with a colleague who owns yield, and leave a review with the one bottleneck you want to break next.
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.
Setting The Stage At Productronica
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterHello, I'm Philip Stowton. I'm here at Productronica 2025 and I'm on the Co Young booth. I'm joined by Michael Zahn from the European side of the business and Joel Schatchfield from the US. Guys, when you're together, it's always really interesting to kind of analyze some of the differences that you see between the market, but also the commonalities. Your customers are basically doing the same thing, so you'd expect things to be similar. Michael, this is your territory. Let's uh start with what's going on not just here in Germany, but here in Europe.
Europe’s Downturn And Early Recovery Signals
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterChallenging times.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeYeah, challenging times in this case, Philip, as you know, the economy is not best. It's different in the US, it's different in Asia, but Europe is a little bit in a I would say kind of depression. Uh having said this, after 18 to 24 months in this kind of dip in this downside, we see more and more uh signs that the economy will come back. We're hearing customers saying we're getting more orders, we need more machines, and this kind of daughter not is somehow opening a little bit. Yeah, so I still hope, or my hopes are that we after Productonica could be a kind of a kickstart for the new business cycle going upwards again. And I'm hoping a lot and I'm thinking a lot for next year.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, and when I when you see that optimism, is that optimism around specific sectors?
Sector Split: Industrial Up, Automotive Down
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterBecause one of the things that seems to have pushed Europe into the doldrums is the automotive sector. And I don't see the automotive sector coming back in a big way.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeUh, not in speed as we would expect. Definitely not. What we see a lot is industrial, industrial electronics defense, of course, it's on due today. The the big areas we have where we have troubles in the east. Yeah. Um, but also what we see a lot of things in terms of customers, smart homes, defense going up, and also the whole deating systems and all this stuff. So it's uh a basic which comes up, automotive is still in a kind of a depression. Yeah, yeah. And I'm not sure how quick they come out, these big big shots in the market. And this is in Europe, do you see a lot of differences?
Regional Investment Patterns In Europe
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeYeah, as we say, uh, even in Europe, we have many, many different areas. Yeah, if you go to Eastern Europe, you have a lot of these big national multinational companies who are struggling a little bit. Yeah, in Germany itself, Germany, we are here in Germany, we have a lot of small customers which are now time to invest home, let's say homegrown companies, privately owned companies, and they spend the money normally anticycliting.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeSo the big ones going up when the economy is going up, the big ones spend money. Yeah, when the and the other ones are more, they spend money before the upturn comes. Yeah, that's just how it is. US, I know you have a lot of uh small companies as well. Mexico is different. Eight, yeah, a lot of community as you said already. Yeah, but a lot of differences.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterJoel, I think it's really interesting when you look at those markets.
Americas Profile: Strength In Tier Two And Three
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterWhen you look at the last couple of years in in the Americas, you've just done really well in the in the in the second and third tiers of the of the EMS companies. Those small, medium-sized companies seem to love what you're doing and the support you give them, and that's really supported your business through those those tougher times.
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young AmericaIt absolutely has, Phil. And you know, fortunately for us, there's a there's a good number of them, right? Yeah. And and again, kind of back to the similarities. We've got the the small mom and pops, there's plenty. We've got the the one to five line companies, uh, lots of those as well. But we also have a lot of those, you know, 15 to or I should say five to fifteen line, uh, five to twenty line. Uh whether it be uh again, tier two, tier three, uh, even on the automotive side, EMS side. Um and we've certainly made a lot of hay and uh with those types of uh those types of companies and being able to service their needs with the the various tools and and and systems that we're providing. So uh but it's it is it's very uh it's very interesting, very almost I won't say a mirror image, but we you know we both have the large globals, you know, to some degree. Yes, right? And and again, depending on what region of Europe you have more or less, similar in the Americas, we have more of that activity in Mexico, for instance, and and more of the uh again, the smaller one to five-ish uh and mid-tier guys in
Serving Globals With Consistent Messaging
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young Americauh in the US and Canada. Yeah. So it is uh, you know, we we do compare notes a lot with regards to uh uh certainly working with common customers in the case of the globals or or just just global companies in general, large or mid-tier, yeah, and uh and how we can best serve them and and uh and provide solutions in multiple locations.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah, and I think that's huge when you look at, you know, you you think about the J-Boels and Flexes and you know, even the even the Foxcons and Pegatrons of this world, they're they're located everywhere, and you've got to be able to you've got to be able to support them everywhere, and you've got to have a a defined message that you can you can deliver to all of them in terms of solution. That that doesn't mean just you guys doing a great job, it means making sure all your uh all your rep network is singing from the same song.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeThe global messaging to the customer is should be the same, not different in the different regions. And yes, our rep's doing a lot of a good and great job in supporting our customers, in selling machines, and supporting the machines and servicing the machines. Uh this is just what we need.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah.
Customers Want Data Value, Not Just Machines
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterI the other thing I find interesting, and and actually I've been really lucky this year. I visited uh your customers in in Hungary, in the UK, uh and in Connecticut, uh, New York State as well. Um, so it's it's great to listen to them. There's certainly with the UK and the US, I found a commonality in what they were looking for, and it was kind of okay, we love the kit, the kit's great, we love the support and service we get. We're really interested in what we can do with the data, and that data's all bubbling up. We're going, we know we've got the best images in the world. How do we leverage those to make us more productive? Um, so I think that's something that you're seeing in common. Is that something you're both hearing from customers? You know, this desire to have some guidance through this next chapter
Practical AI: Productivity, Cost, And Quality
Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcasterof digital transformation?
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young AmericaI think so for sure. Uh, I Phil. In fact, uh it it's it's that and then it's the AI initiative as well, right? How are you using it? What are how and what does that mean to me? Yeah. You know, that and that's the question that that customers should be asking themselves. It's not it's not just do you have it or not, but what is it doing and what is it doing for my operations? Yeah, what's the dividend? And that's and that's what Michael's showing this week uh here at Protoctronica uh with his team, and and uh basically how are our our basically our smart solutions, if you will, our AI solutions uh are doing just that between the the various tools that we've we've talked about uh over the years, yeah uh now really having come into their
Breaking Silos Through Line And Vendor Collaboration
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young Americaown and and being utilized by by customers both in Europe and in the US. Yeah, and uh and and certainly uh more calling for all of the above.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeAnd you're hearing that from your customers here as well, the demands uh and basically for me, AI makes sense when I'm supporting a customer. Yeah, just making an AI because of AI doesn't make sense. Yeah, no. We have to make uh give value to the customers, yeah. They have to improve something, they have to spend time uh or save time, they have to save money, yeah. It has to help them to somehow help the production help them in total. Yeah, so therefore, they as AI and our solutions we show case this week here, are really in this case productive and losing productivity, yeah, saving costs on the other side, as well as improving the quality.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeThis is just what we what we show and what we are working on constantly, even in this down times, yeah, uh, to make sure that we provide more value for the next upturn for all the customers.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, and it gets you in front of the customers and it gets them, it it underlines that awareness that Ko Young are that trusted partner that really do under understand the pain we have. So you've either got to solve a problem or you've got to come to them with a a really good value proposition that has a really, really
Tipping Point: Smart Factory Results In 2026
Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcastersmart return on investment that that that filters down to the bottom line. My sense with with AI and the whole digital transformation thing, and I think it's been true since we first started talking about industry 4.0 years and years ago, is that it only works with collaboration. We've not just got to connect machines, we've got to connect companies, we've got to connect people, we've got to we've got to get out of the silos as well as getting our data out of the silos. You have some pretty cool collaborations with Fuji, with Cyborg, with companies like that. They're really important to you and important to your customers.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeAnd we are important to them. Because with this connection, our AI solutions or even our machines with them for a complete line solution is is them important for them and for us because this we there we can show customers really the advantage in working together. Yeah, because otherwise, you said it, working in silos, my printer, my SPI, my uh pick employees, all the best. Yeah, always the other now. Working in a line and talking to each other helps also to reduce the time until the line is up and running, until the problems are solved and the lip fix. Yeah, uh collaboration between companies is important, and we need to let's say increase that even more.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah. Joe, it feels like in the last year we've been talking about AILR, and we've actually done a really good job through the through the um industry 4.0 revolution or evolution to get machines connected. Recently we seem to be doing a good job of getting companies connected and kind of building these collaborations. Do you feel that in 26 we can really 2026 we can really start to deliver some value on those? Do you feel that we're like getting towards a real tipping point now?
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young AmericaYeah, I think we're already starting to see it as well. So I I think the answer has to be yes. I think we just now take it to the next level. You know, the collaborations obviously they they open uh new opportunities and markets for us as a company. But you know, at the end of the day, uh they really further the entire initiative uh of the smart factory, uh uh uh operational excellence, all of those things that we're we're striving towards. So I think you know, just from the standpoint of of the betterment or uh contribution to the entire initiative, the industry, and you know, helping us get to that point sooner, we have to do that. We we have to collaborate. That's that's that's our really our only pathway. No one company can do this themselves, right? We're too reliant on each other, relying on uh you know, they're relying on our data, uh, you know, we're relying on on them being able to uh to show the data a certain way or use the data properly once we deliver to to self-correct and all these other things. So it's uh it's something that I think is just going to continue to expand. Yeah, I think certainly next year we'll we'll see more uh of the uh the output, the results that we've got to do. Yeah, the dividend from that.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, I think that's really exciting. And you know, I kind of like that. I kind of like that this whole thing is forcing companies to work together, forcing companies to be more open with their data, to be more collaborative, to step out of their little niche or their little world and look at the bigger things.
Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young AmericaIt's taken some time, right? Because initially we were all oh no, this is mine.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeThis is mine. We can only win together. But absolutely. It's it's this is just how it is.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterBut you're a great example. You know, you you have these, you have this deep domain expertise. Everybody, I think with very little exception, would agree that you have the best, you have the best images that are coming coming out of your machine. So you have the best data. But that's the data. The data isn't where the value comes from. That comes from the insight layer. And that insight layer has then got to be connected to other people's insight layers to drive value. You know, maybe maybe the problem isn't anything to do with the solder paste, maybe it's to do with the supply chain. So you better be talking to the supply chain's AI to make sure you get stuff there. So there's that collaboration requirement.
Michael Zahn, Chief Sales Officer, Koh Young EuropeYeah, yeah, this is and this is the point, as you said, we have the data, we can analyze the data, and we we can give input to the other machines and the lines, yeah. Yeah, say, hey, change this, then the the output is better, it's quicker, it's better, it's uh more yield, whatever it is. So this is the important part. And using these data, we out and do that with that.
Philip Stoten, Journalist and PodcasterYeah, yeah. No, I think it's exciting. I think we're in for an exciting period of collaboration ahead, and and hopefully we'll break through and we'll uh we'll get past that industrial revolution, but we'll actually we'll actually get further than we originally even thought we were gonna get. So I think exciting times ahead. Thanks so much for talking to me. I'm excited that we can do these uh do these these get togethers again. I've always enjoyed getting the insight from both sides of the Atlantic. It's uh it's a pleasure. Thanks, Phil. And we'll talk again soon. Thank you.