Vertical Integration as a Superpower with HANZA Founder & CEO Erik Stenfors

What if your supply chain felt like one well-run factory instead of a maze of vendors and shifting promises? I sit down with founder and CEO Erik Stenfors at Hanza's Capital Markets Day in Stockholm to unpack a simple but powerful idea: build a manufacturing partner the way a buyer wishes it worked. That means vertical integration where it counts, smart outsourcing where it helps, and a single accountable brain coordinating many capable hands.

We walk through the evolution from scattered globalization to an orchestrated model that turns fixed costs  variable, reduces delivery risk, and makes room for growth. As Erik explains, HANZA's framework runs on three axes—geography, technology, and capacity—so investments land where customers feel them most. HANZA 2025 was a phase focused on capacity and balance, HANZA 2028 shift toward technology, adding processes that expand the scope of supply and collapse handoffs. Not every site needs every tool; instead, clusters keep a common backbone while deepening specialities that remove real bottlenecks in electronics, mechanics, and final assembly.

Voice of customer sits at the center. We share a standout story where a client moved from roughly forty suppliers to one orchestrated solution, gaining shorter lead times, clearer data, and fewer escalations. Acquisitions matter only when they extend the backbone or sharpen regional coverage without diluting standards. The aim stays constant: a consolidated supply chain that behaves like an integrated plant, priced like a flexible network, and measured by outcomes buyers actually care about—reliability, responsiveness, and total landed cost.

If you’re ready to rethink how you scale, reduce risk, and free your team to focus on design and market instead of firefighting, press play. 

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This podcast is part of series filmed at HANZA's Capital Markets Day in Stockholm on March 10th 2026.

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

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 0:07

Eric, thank you so much for inviting me here to the Hans Capital Day. Absolutely fascinating presentation. And everything starts to make sense when I hear about your phase planning. But I wanted to start with the vertical integration within the business. That feels like a real superpower in a very crowded Me Too market. It really makes you stand out. Was that something that was deliberate from day one?

Lessons From Outsourcing And Globalization

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 0:30

Yeah, it was intentionally. So I think when I was a child, when I was visiting Ericsson factories, they were vertically integrated. You could see how they were doing the switchboards and everything, the mechanics, the electronics, the kid was then outsourcing began. And they started to give it to different kinds of suppliers, and then globalization began. So it scattered all over the clock. All over the place. And I think I'm just turning the clock back. But I think how manufacturing should be done, but it should be outsourced, not run in inside your company.

Manufacturing Made Easy Vision

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 1:00

So yeah, I think that I mean I think it's a really nice way of thinking. And the more I see that vertical integration and the sophistication with the EMS within the EMS industry, the more I feel strongly about the outsourcing model. When you move something from fixed cost to variable cost, the benefits of that and the financial benefits are huge. You talked a lot about manufacturing made easy and hands are in a box. Tell me a little bit about how you see that. I love the vision of the guy sat on his deck watching, looking at the lake and relaxing about his whole manufacturing.

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 1:33

Do you know that that comes from the other side? From the OEM side, yeah. I did spend a number of years being on the other side purchasing my contract contracting.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 1:42

It's really So that's you. That's how you want to be how it should have been.

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 1:47

Yeah. You know, I was not that that laid back because it was really a pressure, and not all the suppliers understood that if we don't get deliveries, we will be out of business. You know, you really give your baby to somebody, and it's so vital. And and uh that was the origin of going into manufacturing and trying to do something which I would like to buy myself.

Three-Year Phases And Balance

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 2:06

Yeah, yeah, it makes perfect sense. And as I mentioned at the very offset, the the idea of these phases, these three-year phases, they really fascinate me. And you you seem to have, I don't know how many you're into, is this the seventh phase or the sixth phase, maybe? You seem to have delivered on every one of them. The last one was balance. Acquisition played a very important role in that. Speak to me a little bit about what you were trying to achieve there and how you feel about how you ended that three-year period.

The Three Axes Strategy

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 2:32

So, as an engineer, I love coordinate systems, don't you? Absolutely. And then you can move in three directions. So these are the directions we have been moving since we started HANSA. So on one axis, you have the geography, on the other, you have the technologies, on the third, you have the capacity. So HANSA 2025 was all about capacity. Now the new phase 28 is about adding technologies. The point of region is the same, increased customer value, yeah, but in different directions.

Expanding Technologies By Customer Voice

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 2:57

Yeah. So it's those three axes of geography, capability, and capacity that you're working on. Now is the capability phase as you go through this 2028 technology phase. What does that mean? What can we expect? Is it more investment in in specific technologies? Is it you addressing new markets like the Lynx project that Mateus spoke about?

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 3:19

So I think Andreas, our CEO, made a good uh speech about how we are moving forward with the capabilities. So the idea is not to have every cluster having all technologies. You can also have a backbone of some of the technologies, but we do need to expand technologies in order to do what we do best, to consolidate supply chains. So we're not just selling manufacturing, as you know, we're selling a consolidated supply chain. In order to do that, we need to have a set of technologies. We have a good set now, but it could be expanded.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 3:44

Yeah, and you do that by voice of customer. You absolutely listen to the customer. I think Vitzabushi is the most beautiful example of both hands are in a box, both manufacturing made easy. And what you're talking about for the next three years, listen to the customer and invest in technology. You took that from what, 40 suppliers to Hansa, basically.

Consolidating Suppliers Into One Box

Erik Stanfors, Founder and CEO, HANZA 4:04

Yeah, and that's a good thing. I don't have an opinion how to create Hanser, it comes from our customers. So we are we are listening to our customers, trying to see what kind of technologies they need, where we should be, geographies, and also capabilities.

Customer-Led Growth And Closing

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 4:16

Yeah, and I think that focus on voice of customer, you know, that's something when you were when you were the customer, you had that voice, maybe not enough people listened to you. When you were a child, you had that vision, and and hopefully that's coming true. Eric, thanks so much for your time. Thanks for talking to me. Thank you.