On Location at ALL Circuits: President & CEO Bruno Racault on Disruption in European Automotive Manufacturing

Carmakers are quietly changing the rules of the automotive supply chain, and it shows up first on the printed circuit board. From my recent visit to ALL Circuits' flagship facility south of Paris, I’m joined by President & CEO Bruno Racault to talk about why some EMS companies are doing better than the doom-and-gloom narrative around European automotive, and what “winning” looks like when the engine is no longer the center of the car.

We get specific about the EV pivot: why ALL Circuits bet early on the growing need for OEM-controlled electronics, how carmakers bring engineering and intellectual property back inside, and why that move can squeeze traditional tier one suppliers that built their business on full ECU design-and-build. Bruno explains the new relationship many automakers want: they define the product, they keep the know-how, and they rely on electronics manufacturing services partners for PCB assembly, process discipline, and consistent quality.

We also dig into what actually creates advantage in automotive electronics manufacturing: support that helps OEM teams understand manufacturing limits, DFX feedback that speeds up design changes, and the real cost of waiting on long logistics cycles. Yes, China can be cheaper and often better at execution, so we talk about humility, learning, and where Europe can still differentiate through innovation, supplier access, and faster iteration close to the customer.

If you care about EV supply chains, PCB manufacturing, and how automakers are reshaping control of the vehicle’s electronics, listen through to the end and tell us what you think the next competitive edge will be. Subscribe, share with a colleague in automotive or electronics, and leave a review so more builders can find the show.

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

Welcome From The Factory Floor

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 0:07

Hello, I'm Philip Stanton. I'm at MSL Circuits, part of All Circuits, and I'm joined by Bruno. Bruno, always a pleasure to chat. Great to see you again, and thanks for uh having me at the facility

Why Carmakers Want Their Own Boards

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 0:17

today. I wanted to talk about two things. One is um French exceptionalism and your your success here and how that's been amplified globally. But I also wanted to talk about the automotive industry. Everybody, when I speak to people in Germany and other parts of Europe, they're very downbeat about automotive. You seem to be bucking that trend, you seem to be doing well, you're building stronger relationships with the car makers as well as the tier ones. What do you put that down to? What are you doing differently?

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 0:50

I guess the secret is that we bet uh maybe four or five years ago um on the need for the car manufacturer to have a uh board uh for themselves. I mean uh the battle was um they were getting getting rid of the piece of metal which was uh the engine. Okay. Uh and so to replace um or to to give works uh job to their uh workers, uh they need to to replace um what they were doing on uh they were trying to give activity to their workers. And so they took the decision um to make their own motors or to buy them and to um make all what's around the the board. Okay, but they stopped at the board level. So they were expecting people like us uh to manufacture their board, not to really uh make the engineering because they were um bringing back the engineering and the know-how uh internally, uh, but they were their limitation was they were considered themselves not able to make the board. Yeah, okay. So that's how we end up us pure manufacturers to being able to supply them board.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 2:11

Yeah, and I guess that fundamental change is when they move away from internal combustion, they need to maintain some intellectual property as well as stuff they're doing themselves, and that becomes an important thing.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 2:22

So so they are they are re-integrating internally uh piece of the of

DFX Support Beats Cheaper Offshore

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 2:28

the job. Um so that's also why the people like uh Conti or Bosch who are suffering right now, uh, because they were used to to do this kind of uh um ECU and uh and since now the car manufacturer, at least the one we are working with, uh has get uh reintegrate the know-how. Um they are not looking anymore for people which were able to design board uh and to make the the the product. They want to make the product uh and they just need people uh able to supply their board according to the specification.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 3:06

Yeah, and that that then gives you a relationship direct to the CarMac manufacturer. You're still working with the the the tier ones, you're still having success with with uh your customers that are in that.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 3:18

Right, and currently we are making more because we start with the uh battery management system, which is pretty simple uh ECU, and then we we are working now with them to make the what we call the inverter, okay. What the the board which is controlling the the motor itself, and on more and more. So it's an association which is going pretty well. They like to be happy about our quality, about our supports. Um supports is important in our business because uh um they don't have the knowledge of the manufacturing of the board. So they are looking at that and they are looking uh people can teach them uh uh uh what are the the limitation, uh, how can we improve the manufacturing, uh what we call the DFX, yeah, uh, and so on. And uh they found out that it might be less expensive manufacturing-wise to go to China, uh, but all the improvements they could make that quick for uh materials for uh for design so they can implement their design a lot quicker than uh waiting for uh six weeks in the boat on plus and plus. Um so it was really uh uh something we're trying to sell to the car manufacturer, and it did work.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 4:40

Yeah, no, it was absolutely a now.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 4:42

They have a service, they have a good quality, they are able to be competitive because uh they have access to directly to the to the price of the component. So so that's part of the secret.

France Germany And The EV Bet

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 4:55

Yeah, is that happening more in France than it is potentially with the German country?

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 4:59

No, it was already it was already the the case in Germany actually, because uh uh let's take BMW, they were subcontracting part of it to Conti and Bosch, but they were also using uh uh their own uh EMS. Um they were doing 50-50. Okay, so it was kind of different. Um they were really looking for the price, um but the trend was already there. Yeah, it was already there, building upon it. Um but but I think the French one took the decision to take back the the Noah, the IP, um a lot sooner. Sooner, yeah, certainly. Right, right. What I'm seeing today is that Renault's going pretty well. Stalantis, when I say Stalantis is mainly PSA, Citroën is not going that well. Um the trends is to reintroduce to be more uh regional than it was before. Yeah, I mean Americans are going are staying in thermal, the Chinese are going to EV, full EV, maybe only anywhere in the middle. So maybe a nice I don't know what yeah, right.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 6:13

Um I don't know. I don't know who will be win. Yeah, so so who knows? It's hard to imagine the large German car manufacturing brands pushing that trend from of Chinese EVs back there. That seems to be something that is is taken hold.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 6:30

What we can see is that now EV hybrid is 60% of the of the car sales, of the new car sales. So so EV is there. Yeah definitely majority. There is only 40% remaining, so definitely the one who didn't take the um the decision to go to Eevee uh will be in trouble sooner or later.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 6:53

Yeah.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 6:54

Will it change? Are we going to uh oxygen, uh to hydrogen, to to lunar vehicle? I don't know, but but but but but what we can say is that for now for 10 years, okay, it will be EV.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 7:09

Yeah. Okay. After

Agility Learning From China

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 7:11

who knows? I think what's really interesting though, Bruno, when you look at your history, you know, you built the business on supporting the um internal combustion engine market. Yeah. You pivoted and you bet very early on the on the on the change to EV. You have a DNA that allows you to be competitive in the automotive space, which is really quite challenging. You have to be heavily automated and you have to be very focused on on the detail to be successful and on the you know the the small margins and the price. That's that's really important. But you've also remained agile enough to pivot to EV and and hopefully pivot to whatever is next.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 7:51

Right. I think uh agility is a key. You know, we're trained to be uh to lose weight. Speaking of weight, yeah, um well, at least not to be too big and to be to be cumbersome. Yeah, pragmatic, yeah, we say in uh in French. Yeah, uh and one of the keys that um it's customer force for us. Yeah, so we are really listening to customers, we're trying to satisfy them, we're trying to follow their trends. Um on whatever they ask us. Well, we're a service provider, so we're able to serve them. That's really the idea. Our our goal, we are not manufacturing the essence, we are really service providers. Yeah, that's maybe the the the key difference here.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 8:38

Yeah, I think that's a huge differentiator and understanding that. And actually, I think what's been interesting is as you've gone over that transition over the last year of the partnership with uh with DBG, you're able to bring that to the partnership, you're able to share that. You've kept that in your DNA very, very strongly. Yeah, but you can also share it as a best practice with them so they can then Yeah. Try to imagine.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 9:01

Now we are looking for the Chinese to teach us, okay, how to manufacture electronics. People, old people like me, okay, 30 years ago it was the contrary. Yeah, okay. So um, but we have to be humble, and now now they are really uh better than us in manufacturing, they are cheaper. Yeah, um, we just need to uh learn what they are doing best and to apply it here, and uh we have our chance.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 9:28

Yeah, and sharing your best practices with them as well as them with you as well.

Bruno Racault, President & CEO, ALL Circuits 9:32

And we need to be to be cautious to bring them something also. So uh and it cannot be the access to the to the European market because they already get it. It's more uh maybe the access to to uh uh the suppliers, the access of uh of this uh um generating ideas they don't have because they are good in the execution, but uh when it's coming to have ideas, to do innovation, to do different um well we can we might have to. So I believe there.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 10:03

Yeah, I think that's I think that's really important. It's really exciting to see how the how the journey continues. Right, right. We'll see. Yep, okay so much. Good job. Thank you, Tunis.