EMS@C-LEVEL · 2026-07-02 · 26 min
Key moments - from our scoring
Substance score
52 / 100
Five dimensions, 20 points each
Carsten Ellermeier, now owner and CEO of Deltec, shares his journey from C-level executive to entrepreneur after acquiring the company out of insolvency when the automotive sector collapsed. Deltec was a top-10 German EMS provider but had become dangerously dependent on passenger car manufacturing, representing over 70% of revenue. Ellermeier's acquisition strategy focuses on portfolio diversification - reducing automotive exposure to 30% within three to four years while leveraging Deltec's existing automotive-grade quality processes, certifications, and manufacturing expertise. He's pursuing growth in medical devices, robotics, automation, industrial battery storage, and selective defense sector opportunities. A key strategic initiative is moving Deltec from pure PCBA manufacturing toward full systems integration and complete lifecycle services. Working as a preferred Panasonic integrator for Europe, Ellermeier is developing Deltec Guided Manual Assembly - a comprehensive digital traceability system combining collaborative worker assistance, automated pick-to-light, and end-to-end KPI measurement across SMT, THT, assembly, and test stages, built in partnership with B4C Creation.
As owner, Ellermeier can tell customers directly 'it's my risk, it's my company,' which creates a different quality of trust and engagement - customers know decisions are his personal responsibility and that long-standing relationships matter more than financial targets driven by shareholders.
Ellermeier targets reducing automotive from 70% to 30% within three to four years, while growing medical devices (leveraging existing ISO certifications), robotics and automation systems, industrial battery storage, and selective defense sector work - at least three distinct markets simultaneously.
It combines collaborative worker assistance systems, automated pick-to-light, real-time camera traceability, and complete KPI measurement across SMT, THT, and manual assembly stages - covering the entire production flow with digital oversight, developed in partnership with Panasonic and B4C Creation.
Deltec's products (climatization controls, lighting systems) serve both internal combustion and BEV platforms, and the company has valuable automotive certifications, quality processes, and brand reputation that apply to medical and other regulated sectors - completely exiting would waste strategic assets.
Despite having highly automated PCBA manufacturing and THT assembly capabilities, Deltec lacked vertical integration into complete modules, products, and systems - it remained primarily a component manufacturer rather than a full-service solutions provider across the product lifecycle.
Our reviewer’s read on each dimension, with quotes from the episode.
The episode contains a handful of genuinely useful operational points - the 70%-automotive concentration as the root cause of insolvency, the EMS consolidation thesis creating space for owner-managed mid-size players, and the skepticism about defence growth - but most of the conversation stays at summary level without revealing the underlying mechanics, decisions, or tradeoffs in enough depth to be densely instructive. Significant filler and agreement between speakers dilutes the signal.
Delltech was focusing more than 70% on just automotive passenger car. And that was the strategic fault
Now, mostly all EMS are now telling the story of defense industry...this is not a market a market which is lying in front of you, and this is not increasing such fast as everybody wants
The contrarian pushback on defence hype is a mildly fresh take for an EMS audience, and the framing of Asian suppliers as problem-solvers rather than purely threats is worth noting, but the core narrative - diversify away from a concentrated sector, transfer automotive quality discipline to adjacent markets - is a well-worn EMS playbook with no first-principles reasoning offered.
I'm I honestly uh honestly saying, uh, of course, I'm interested in defense industry, but uh this is not a market a market which is lying in front of you
don't talk about the Asian supplier base also only as competitor, see all the chances in this fast economy and this powerful economy to solve problems too
Carsten Ellermeier is a genuine practitioner who executed an actual distressed-asset acquisition out of insolvency and is running the company as owner-CEO 14 months in - this is real skin-in-the-game experience, not thought-leadership. He loses points because Deltec is a medium-sized regional player and the transcript gives little sense of his prior C-level impact at scale.
I'm taking over um Dell Tech out of a uh on an insolvency situation
I take the chance to to acquire the assets as a classical asset deal out of the insolvency
The episode has useful concrete anchors - specific percentages (70% then 50% automotive, 30% target), named strategic partners (Panasonic Connect, VISCOM, B4C Creation, Shengyi, King Board), and a named proprietary system (Deltec Guided Manual Assembly) - but no revenue figures, headcount, facility size, acquisition price, or customer names appear, leaving the business picture largely schematic.
we are now close to 50% of the turnover uh um with uh automotive passenger car business...the target will be not more than 30% uh in the uh three to four years target
getting really close information from Shengyi and King Board to get the information live and defining strategies
The host has genuine domain knowledge and occasionally surfaces a useful angle - asking about ICE-to-EV transition within the automotive book, probing the AI readiness of the digital infrastructure - but he consistently validates rather than challenges, letting vague claims about supply chain, AI, and market growth pass without pushback or quantification requests.
Just to go to those two different areas, the 50% that's still in automotive, is that transitioning from internal combustion to something that's more EV related?
Okay, that sounds an excellent, excellent process to go through for the next stage of automation.
Computed from the transcript - who did the talking, and the words that came up most.
Buying a company out of insolvency is one of those decisions that sounds bold from the outside and feels very different at 2 a.m. when you are the owner. I sit down with Carsten Ellermeier to unpack his first fourteen months leading Deltec Group as both CEO and owner, including what the automotive downturn revealed about concentration risk and why trust with customers and suppliers becomes your real operating system. We get specific about the turnaround playbook in electronics manufacturing services (EMS): diversifying revenue away from automotive without throwing away the quality culture that automotive PCB assembly builds. Carsten explains why many legacy automotive electronics still fit the EV transition, then lays out the non-automotive growth lanes he sees as real, not hype: medical manufacturing with rigorous traceability, robotics and automation with strong German mid-market demand, and energy storage and charging infrastructure that rewards disciplined industrialization. A big chunk of our conversation goes deep on vertical integration and digital transformation.
Transcribed and scored by The B2B Podcast Index.
1 - > Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton from My House to Yours. 2 - > Welcome to EMS at sea level. 3 - > I am joined by Carsten Elemeyer, who is now from Dell 4 - > Tech. 5 - > Last time we spoke, it was uh something different, but now 6 - > Dell Tech.
7 - > Give me a quick introduction to Dell Tech um and the story as 8 - > we go from you becoming an owner, so your acquisition of 9 - > Dell Tech and a little bit of the history of Dell Tech before 10 - > you before you took charge. 11 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO and: Hi, Phil. 12 - > Great to talk to you again. 13 - > Yeah, and now in the new role uh as owner instead of CEO, so 14 - > CEO and owner, which is uh quite new for me just since uh 14 15 - > months.
16 - > Um, but of course, uh really important step in my life. 17 - > Yeah, and uh yeah, coming back, I'm taking over um Dell Tech 18 - > out of a uh on an insolvency situation. 19 - > Deltec was an existing uh top 10 player in Germany, very well 20 - > known in automotive business. 21 - > And uh this was also the reason uh why I had this chance, this 22 - > opportunity to take over Dell Tech, because end of 2024, we 23 - > had the uh they had the situation that the automotive 24 - > market, as you know, breaks extremely down.
25 - > And in this time, Delltech was focusing more than 70% on just 26 - > automotive passenger cars. 27 - > And that was the strategic fault uh to say. 28 - > Yeah, uh, many, many years before that runs perfectly, and 29 - > you had the chance to grow with the car industry and passenger 30 - > car industry, but uh in 2004 the crisis was on the extreme 31 - > point. 32 - > Uh, if you have two-thirds of the turnover, and then I take 33 - > the chance to to acquire the assets as a classical asset deal 34 - > out of the insolvency and uh deciding switching from my C 35 - > level position in EMS industry uh to be my own entrepreneur 36 - > first time.
37 - > Uh so it's uh uh really, really uh yeah, it's a big change, 38 - > isn't it? 39 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist : It's exciting. 40 - > I'm kind of curious that just tackling that first of all. 41 - > How different does it feel to be not just the CEO but the uh 42 - > but the shareholder as well?
43 - > You know, the uh the person that employs the CEO. 44 - > Carsten Ellermeier, : Definitely better, though. 45 - > Yeah, definitely better, of course. 46 - > Uh the uh the first nights and the first weeks, yeah.
47 - > Um uh even if you are experienced CEO, you are a bit 48 - > more nervous than normal, as you know. 49 - > Yeah, so um yeah, yeah, of course, and you need luck too. 50 - > This is the truth, yeah. 51 - > Yeah, yeah, and this is defined and timing is of course 52 - > important, and the opportunity.
53 - > So uh at the end, it is an opportunity-driven decision, 54 - > yeah. 55 - > And then you you must take the decision by your own and said, 56 - > Okay, that's my point, that's my time. 57 - > Yeah, um, maybe this is my age, yeah, in the middle of the the 58 - > working life, yeah, yeah. 59 - > And with enough experience, and then you need also trust in 60 - > yourself, and you need some some uh meetings with customers and 61 - > suppliers, um, and many of them you know you know from your 62 - > former network, and you need trust also on the on the 63 - > stakeholder uh stakeholder, how to say, suppliers and uh 64 - > customers, and need trust in these relationships, yeah.
65 - > And then it starts, and I'm really happy after after 14 66 - > months. 67 - > Yeah, it's fascinating, isn't it? 68 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, and it's not a crisis, but some 69 - > people buy a motorcycle, you bought an EMS company. 70 - > It's uh it's a it's a it's a very interesting choice.
71 - > Um I guess the first challenge that you had was to make sure 72 - > you had a more diverse portfolio of customers. 73 - > Uh, have you been able to do that and how important has that 74 - > been? 75 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, I I'm happy to be successful in 76 - > that uh way of doing diversification. 77 - > Yeah, and we are now close to 50% of the turnover uh um with 78 - > uh automotive passenger car business.
79 - > So we are going in the right direction, and of course, uh the 80 - > target will be not more than 30% uh in the uh three to four 81 - > years target. 82 - > Yeah, um but that doesn't mean that we want to leave the 83 - > automotive passenger car business. 84 - > I still uh think in in the strong and over Descartes 85 - > successful uh German and OAM and European passenger car 86 - > industry. 87 - > Um, but point of strategic uh ownership, yeah, you need to 88 - > have this focus on 30, 35% the maximum.
89 - > So one third of the company should be enough. 90 - > I'm I'm lucky that I had the chance with existing customers 91 - > from Dell Tech to increase the relationship. 92 - > Yeah, so the trust was there on customer side, and it was 93 - > possible just in the first uh even in the first year after 94 - > taking over to increase the business with non-automotive 95 - > customers. 96 - > Yeah, and of course, I could acquire uh new customers, um, of 97 - > my out of my my history, out of my contacts, out of my network 98 - > over the decades.
99 - > Yeah, um, and it's uh a different kind of argumentation 100 - > and first contact uh with existing network. 101 - > If you say, uh gentlemen, I'm back in the game. 102 - > Yeah. 103 - > But it's my risk, it's my yeah, it's also my risk, it's my 104 - > company.
105 - > Yeah. 106 - > Um, I ask you for a chance. 107 - > This is a different kind of uh sales activity, yeah. 108 - > But it but it fits.
109 - > Yeah, um, I really like uh that it fits. 110 - > It's it's giving me it's giving me comfortable feeling, it's 111 - > giving me trust back from long relationship partners. 112 - > Yeah, yeah, yeah. 113 - > This is my experience in the first year.
114 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah, and they like that you've 115 - > got skin in the game, they like what you're doing. 116 - > Just to go to those two different areas, the 50% that's 117 - > still in automotive, is that transitioning from internal 118 - > combustion to something that's more EV related? 119 - > And do you find the relationship with car makers, 120 - > for example, is changing with EVs over the prior relationship 121 - > with um, you know, with the larger tier ones, perhaps?
122 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, I'm happy that that also the 123 - > the former business within Dell Tech was also um fitting to both 124 - > uh technologies. 125 - > Yeah, so um a lot of a lot of the existing products are in 126 - > climatization controls, for example, uh, and in lighting 127 - > business passenger car, which fits totally to all the BEV cars 128 - > too. 129 - > Yeah, so this was one of the strategic points where I decided 130 - > that the risk is high, of course, to taking over an 131 - > automotive-driven customer, but you are also in the new 132 - > technology level for the next uh decades.
133 - > Yeah. 134 - > So this is also one point why I'm saying I don't want to step 135 - > out of the automotive passenger car to business. 136 - > It doesn't make sense. 137 - > We have the knowledge, we have the experience, we have the 138 - > context.
139 - > We have to look about the other fields, we have to look about 140 - > uh high performance uh charging infrastructure in addition as 141 - > well. 142 - > Yeah. 143 - > Um but you have the the quality processes, you have the 144 - > certification, you have the context to the markets, and you 145 - > have a good uh uh brand name in the automotive market. 146 - > Yeah, yeah.
147 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, that's hugely valuable. 148 - > And when you look at the other sectors, the sectors that you're 149 - > growing, the sectors do you expect to grow to two-thirds of 150 - > the business? 151 - > What are the focuses there? 152 - > Um we're hearing a lot about an inflection point in the defense 153 - > industry.
154 - > Well, obviously, we're hearing a lot about AI infrastructure, 155 - > although I don't think Europe's perhaps had the same value add 156 - > that many of the uh Asian and American companies have on that 157 - > basis. 158 - > Which markets are you really um focused on? 159 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO an: Now, mostly all EMS are now telling 160 - > the story of defense industry, and uh uh this is the normal way 161 - > of discussion for the future markets for the next years.
162 - > And I'm I honestly uh honestly saying, uh, of course, I'm 163 - > interested in defense industry, but uh this is not a market a 164 - > market which is lying in front of you, and this is not 165 - > increasing such fast as everybody wants uh this 166 - > business. 167 - > Um, so so let's talk about the basics. 168 - > So, Delltech is a medium-sized company, and we have a lot of um 169 - > diversification in the market, we have a lot of consolidation 170 - > in the EMS market, we have a lot of acquisition of medium-sized 171 - > companies, and this is a major chance for Dell Tech.
172 - > Yeah, if you're seeing the structure of the EMS companies 173 - > in Europe, the medium-sized companies are acquired by the 174 - > bigger ones. 175 - > Yeah, and uh this is a good chance for medium-sized 176 - > customers. 177 - > Not everybody wants to be integrated in a big concern, uh, 178 - > wants to have direct person, wants still to have uh a 179 - > medium-sized supplier, which he knows the owner, where we have 180 - > the direct contacts where you can drive in two hours and being 181 - > and being responsible, and of course, having the size on the 182 - > supplier side to have the the name and the decision and can 183 - > push more instead of a big acquisition.
184 - > So um, look, thinking still about mid-size industry in 185 - > Europe, so about different branches. 186 - > If we're talking about branches, um, DeltaC has also a 187 - > medical certification, so don't forget about medical beside all 188 - > the defense discussions. 189 - > Uh, was not successful in the past in this industry, but have 190 - > the knowledge for the processes. 191 - > It's not such a difficult big difference between automotive in 192 - > point of quality and traceability and digitalization 193 - > of processes necessary to realizing the absolutely high 194 - > end level for zero defect strategy.
195 - > It is similar in medical industry. 196 - > And uh, I have a good history in medical industry, especially 197 - > in Germany. 198 - > And of course, I try to push this market um in the future for 199 - > Dell Tech. 200 - > And besides that, I was successful in robotic and 201 - > automation industry.
202 - > Yeah, so there are medium-sized companies in Germany with um 203 - > with uh robotic uh systems, with HMI systems, with um also all 204 - > the building technology, yeah, and also the industrial battery 205 - > storage uh markets uh is even similar, interesting, like like 206 - > defense sector. 207 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah, yeah. 208 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO and: And this is a wide range where I 209 - > can enter in. 210 - > And of course, it's it is not just one more market I search 211 - > about uh to combine the automotive volume.
212 - > Yeah, there are minimum three different markets I'm addressing 213 - > currently. 214 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah, it makes perfect sense, 215 - > doesn't it? 216 - > And I think it's there's some really interesting market spaces 217 - > there. 218 - > You talk about robotics.
219 - > I know there's a lot of hype about humanoid robotics and the 220 - > future there. 221 - > But the transition between medical and robotics is becoming 222 - > really fascinating and really interesting as well. 223 - > And having the skills that the other thing I really like about 224 - > companies that have grown up with an automotive foundation, 225 - > with that in their DNA, they tend to be very good at their 226 - > own automation, they tend to be very focused on taking the last 227 - > few cents out of the cost of manufacturing of each product 228 - > because that's absolutely necessary in the automotive 229 - > sector.
230 - > And this is so that gives you a real base. 231 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, this is um where we are coming 232 - > from with uh absolutely uh big investments in high-tech uh 233 - > machinery equipment, uh, in uh really high knowledge of THT 234 - > automation processes. 235 - > Yeah, so in point of PCBA and competitiveness and looking for 236 - > the last sense to be competitive and on high quality level, this 237 - > is uh existing experience and knowledge from Dell Tech, which 238 - > I want to keep.
239 - > What was missing? 240 - > Uh uh missing was uh the vertical integration, uh the 241 - > transition from a high-tech and and highly automized uh PCBA 242 - > manufacturer, classical PCBA manufacturer, to the full 243 - > service service or the full circle uh life circles uh 244 - > provider. 245 - > Uh, this is what was missing. 246 - > So um there was uh not enough products and not enough focusing 247 - > on complete modules, products, products, or maybe in the vision 248 - > of five years, also systems.
249 - > And this is the process I want to focus about. 250 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, and that adds a lot of 251 - > dimension to the automation as well. 252 - > It requires some flexible automation, it's a different 253 - > strategy. 254 - > But I know um from the automotive industry, you have 255 - > the uh the skills and the way of thinking to do that.
256 - > The other thing that you've done in that area is you um you 257 - > announced a partnership with Panasonic. 258 - > I appreciate Panasonic are very focused on the SMT line. 259 - > But tell me a bit about that digital transformation strategy 260 - > that you've undertaken with Panasonic. 261 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Thank you.
262 - > So Panasonic is uh uh is a really um important, if not one 263 - > of the most if not the most important player for us in in a 264 - > strategic relationship wise. 265 - > We we are preferred integrator for Europe for Panasonic uh 266 - > Connect. 267 - > Uh we have the newest technology of SMT lines and also 268 - > THT lines assembly from Panasonic overall. 269 - > But we are going to gather the next step.
270 - > We have we have developed uh even with Innovax every pick to 271 - > light system and traceability and and cover all the 272 - > traceability and OAE automatically and KPI 273 - > measurement on the SMT side, um already done since one year. 274 - > Yeah, so this was on a really, really good stage. 275 - > What was missing? 276 - > The next step was missing.
277 - > So uh similar knowledge for THT assembly, similar knowledge for 278 - > assembling complete models, including the test measurements 279 - > of the testing systems, if it is ICT or FKT or whatever, until 280 - > the end of the process. 281 - > And this is not a typical Panasonic knowledge because they 282 - > just have TH started with the THT assembly lines, and they use 283 - > us as a preferred AEMS integrator to bring the rest of 284 - > the knowledge in. 285 - > And we develop it together with the uh Tunisian uh development 286 - > partner.
287 - > Uh, the company is called B4C Creation. 288 - > Yeah. 289 - > And with this team together, um, we do build the next 290 - > technology in digitalization, traceability, and um the 291 - > complete knowledge until the end of the project. 292 - > Um with several functions.
293 - > We will show that on the electronica booth this year and 294 - > we'll announce it quite close before. 295 - > Uh, we call it uh Dell Tech Guided Manual Assembly, the 296 - > system. 297 - > The system is a combination of many systems that you know from 298 - > the market in point of uh collaborative assistance systems 299 - > for the worker, but with complete traceability. 300 - > So it has not just camera systems, it has not just pick to 301 - > light, it combines everything from the THT component until the 302 - > final product in traceability and KPI measurement digitalized.
303 - > And this is a combination of knowledge of Dell Tech, 304 - > Panasonic, and B4C. 305 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Okay, that sounds an excellent, 306 - > excellent process to go through for the next stage of 307 - > automation. 308 - > I have to ask, because it's inevitable that people will ask 309 - > you, is is AI playing a role in this? 310 - > And do you see this as something that gives you a 311 - > really good foundation to build AI on top of?
312 - > Carsten Ellermeier,: Definitely. 313 - > Yeah, definitely. 314 - > Yeah, it is it it is AI. 315 - > At the end, at the end, the process, how it is uh working, 316 - > it is AI.
317 - > But you need a lot of more data in the system to use the good 318 - > data, yeah. 319 - > You have good data to use the AI, yeah, and you have a lot 320 - > internally, you have also the all the AOI 3D data and x-ray 321 - > data from the from the products until so far, and you have to 322 - > add that to the digital guided manufacturer um manual assembly 323 - > system, yeah, and then you are in a good way. 324 - > Uh um, but the question is right. 325 - > Um, I would say uh 12 months earlier, maybe it is in the next 326 - > announcement step.
327 - > Uh yeah, but your question is 100% right, uh Phil. 328 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah, it's an interesting 329 - > foundation. 330 - > And you talk about inspection data from historic data from SPI 331 - > and AOI, they're fundamentally important. 332 - > Are they Panasonic um SPI and AOI systems as well, or is that 333 - > a uh a different strategic partner?
334 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO and: No, this is Wisconsin. 335 - > This is Wisconsin. 336 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist an: So they they have they have a they 337 - > have a fundamental importance in this whole process as well, 338 - > because the quality and the ability to harness that data 339 - > holistically is just hugely valuable, I think. 340 - > So exciting stuff.
341 - > Good. 342 - > Well, I look forward to seeing that on the electronica booth, 343 - > and hopefully you'll have some representation from Panasonic 344 - > Connect and VISCOM that we can chat to about it at the time. 345 - > The other news that came out recently was the acquisition of 346 - > the facility from uh Circle. 347 - > The fact that you've acquired the business, uh the Dell Tech 348 - > business, and you're already uh adding adding additional 349 - > capacity is really exciting.
350 - > Tell me a little bit about that. 351 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, capacity is one point of the 352 - > view. 353 - > It is uh it is not a secret that the availability of high 354 - > technical uh people in Tunisia is really good. 355 - > Um even the the universities are growing very fast.
356 - > Um, in addition, the average age uh for industrial assembly 357 - > technology is much better compared to the European 358 - > countries. 359 - > You know, the average age in industry companies. 360 - > Um besides that, uh it makes the uh the next step for the 361 - > vertical integration in competitiveness. 362 - > Yeah, so uh if you have the automation and the 363 - > digitalization concept for your for your flagship for the PCBA 364 - > system, including THT and modules and testing systems, 365 - > yeah, you don't have to forget the rest of the components which 366 - > you need in addition to PCBA to build the final product.
367 - > Yeah. 368 - > And my decision was to look about uh wire harnesses, yeah, 369 - > because coming from my history, for each for close to each PCBA 370 - > needs a wire harness, yeah, so need a cable assembly 371 - > connection, uh, and mostly is plastic ejection uh as well. 372 - > So you need plastic cases more than metal cases, yeah, yeah, 373 - > and this makes sense. 374 - > And this new facility, this existing uh COR um uh facility 375 - > was fitting very good.
376 - > Yeah, there is an ST area, there is a THT area there, there 377 - > is a huge cable assembly area there with plastic injection, 378 - > with plastic molding, with over molding of cables for grommets 379 - > and connectors. 380 - > Yeah, and that fits strategically wise very good. 381 - > In addition, it is in a free trade zone, so very comfortable 382 - > for European investors, yeah. 383 - > Uh, in 10 all uh duty and tax issues.
384 - > Um, in addition, it was founded 20 years ago by a German 385 - > investor, of course. 386 - > The former owner of C Core Tunisia was Phoenix Mekano. 387 - > So it is, in easy words, it's a German-driven company which 388 - > makes the integration much easier. 389 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Makes the cultural better.
390 - > Yeah, absolutely. 391 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO and: The cultural thing, language thing, 392 - > and the integration working together with Germans um was 393 - > it's easier to integrate. 394 - > Yeah. 395 - > Yeah.
396 - > Yeah. 397 - > So absolutely, it's good. 398 - > It helps a lot. 399 - > And of course, there are expats too, yeah, there.
400 - > So for many years. 401 - > Yeah. 402 - > That helps a lot and that makes sense uh for me. 403 - > And even the customer side, uh, from my experience uh with uh 404 - > being owner of one EMS FAP uh from the first year, 14 months, 405 - > was uh instead of my former uh working stations and my C level, 406 - > uh nobody asked me about the size of the company, about is 407 - > there a second uh facility as backup solution?
408 - > And of course, as new owner as Dell Tech with one flagship 409 - > facility, uh many customers asked me what is your plan B? 410 - > What is your risk management area? 411 - > Uh what is your second facility? 412 - > Yeah, and this is also the next uh checkpoint on my list.
413 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah, no, it's important. 414 - > And when I when I look at acquisition, I always think 415 - > there are three checkboxes and you filled them all there. 416 - > One is one is one is finding the right geography, the other 417 - > is capacity, and the third is capability. 418 - > And you're adding you're adding all three of those.
419 - > And I think that's you know, that's hugely valuable. 420 - > As you mentioned, culture within an integration is hugely 421 - > important. 422 - > So the fact that they're uh aligned with the German way of 423 - > doing things, I think is hugely valuable. 424 - > I wanted to zoom out briefly and just have a look at what's 425 - > going on in the industry generally.
426 - > We talked a bit about markets, so we've kind of covered that 427 - > side of it. 428 - > But on the supply side, there's a little bit of tension around 429 - > prone circuit board availability. 430 - > I think that boils all the way back to laminate availability. 431 - > And obviously, there are component and semiconductor 432 - > issues.
433 - > I feel they're just AI sucking the oxygen out of the room for 434 - > all of us. 435 - > Um, is that the reason behind it? 436 - > And how do you mitigate those challenges? 437 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, we will we will see what the 438 - > rest of the year uh will happen on the market.
439 - > Yeah, um, we are in an electronic year, in an in an 440 - > electronica year, uh very often in the history comes some 441 - > problems on the desk in supply chain in electronica years. 442 - > Yeah, yeah. 443 - > Yeah, so now we have the next booming industry, which is a 444 - > fact, and the laminate situation is a fact too. 445 - > Uh, but we have still overcapacity in raw PCB 446 - > manufacturing globally wise on the global market value.
447 - > Yeah, this is a fact too. 448 - > So if there is an um problem in raw material and it will be 449 - > solved a bit better, yeah, the supply chain is getting stable 450 - > again because we still have overcapacity on the world market 451 - > on production PCB manufacture production side. 452 - > Yeah, um, so don't get too much nervous so far. 453 - > Yeah, of course, you need uh to be uh to do you need to provide 454 - > to your strategic PCB partners long-term forecasts when 455 - > available.
456 - > You should give them the possibility to to give the real 457 - > numbers to the raw material suppliers. 458 - > Yeah, uh, in that case, you you uh you have to be carefully uh 459 - > don't accept the price increases. 460 - > Yeah, uh if they cannot survive, they cannot deliver. 461 - > So being fair in relationship again, yeah, being hard but 462 - > fair, yeah, and uh working with strategic.
463 - > Partners to getting the real facts to getting really close 464 - > information from Shengyi and King Board to get the 465 - > information live and defining strategies. 466 - > It is still possible. 467 - > And of course, yeah, we just don't just have to look about 468 - > the raw PCB manufacturers from China. 469 - > Yeah, we have also look about the laminates.
470 - > Yeah, this is this is the next learning effect. 471 - > We very often have that. 472 - > But remember, we had that also with talco uh tantalum pulver 473 - > for tantalum capacitors, and yeah, and many of these uh uh 474 - > problems um could be solved because if it is interesting to 475 - > invest, yeah, and there is an AOI, the investment can be done 476 - > very fast, especially by the Asian supplier base. 477 - > Um and um don't talk about the Asian supplier base also only as 478 - > competitor, see all the chances in this fast economy and this 479 - > powerful economy to solve problems too.
480 - > Yeah, yeah, their ability to scale is impressive. 481 - > Exactly, it is impressive, and you cannot imagine uh as a 482 - > European guy how fast they can solve problems if there is a 483 - > business case behind. 484 - > Yeah, yeah. 485 - > Maybe the maybe the storage uh issue could be a bit longer, 486 - > yeah.
487 - > Yeah, um, and this is of course one allocation situation uh 488 - > which is which is really tough in the moment and forcing some 489 - > customers. 490 - > Um, but as you know, not each PCB and far away from each PCB 491 - > needs storage on it. 492 - > Yeah, so it is a special range of the market uh driven by KI. 493 - > And also this is a market with KA which will be stable and 494 - > increasing very fast over the next years.
495 - > And I see a stable growth in this market, and I trust in 496 - > that, and therefore we will have also the big investments on the 497 - > market. 498 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, yeah. 499 - > No, I agree with you. 500 - > I think I think we will see people scale to scale to meet 501 - > those demands.
502 - > The last thing I was going to say about that is you need to 503 - > have as much visibility, you need to deliver as much 504 - > visibility as you can to your suppliers and likewise to your 505 - > customers. 506 - > That's another layer of digital transformation in your 507 - > business. 508 - > So you have real-time data. 509 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Yeah, this is a fact.
510 - > And even the even the communication. 511 - > So it is also part of our job as EMS player to do a fair and 512 - > transparent and open communication with the customers 513 - > in time, which are not focusing on a single part of their 514 - > product, which is a storage or a raw PCB. 515 - > They need to inform in time, they need to be in discussions 516 - > where you must to do the early alert to uh giving raw materials 517 - > approval for longer time uh and not pre-cash or whatever, and 518 - > all these issues just to inform in time and let also the C level 519 - > from the customers know.
520 - > Uh, look about storage, maybe increasing the stock volume a 521 - > bit, maybe uh planning on your customer side that you need to 522 - > do price increases because if we're paying more, we are 523 - > getting quantities, which is still a fact. 524 - > But of course, in this market, in this global market, this is a 525 - > painful discussion. 526 - > Yeah, and you can just work with trust in this uh 527 - > relationship on both sides, on suppliers, on customer sides. 528 - > And uh at the end, then you will have solutions.
529 - > Yeah, and finding it. 530 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, it just shows the shows the 531 - > value of those key partnerships and and managing the 532 - > communication and collaboration with those people in a very 533 - > honest and very straightforward manner. 534 - > And uh you're clearly doing a very good job of that. 535 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO and O: I would be I would be more afraid 536 - > if there is no business keys case besides be behind draw PCBs 537 - > or of course there is no increasing market, but 538 - > electronic will increase in each new innovation, so it makes 539 - > sense for in for investments and similar in storage systems.
540 - > Uh and that's me lets me feel comfortable that this is a short 541 - > period problem. 542 - > Yeah, of adjustments. 543 - > Philip Stoten, Journalist: Yeah, no, I absolutely agree with 544 - > you. 545 - > Carsten, it's a joy to speak to you as an entrepreneur and an 546 - > owner as well as a CEO now.
547 - > Uh, I wish you every success in the future. 548 - > Congratulations on what you've done um so far, and I look 549 - > forward to chatting again with you at Electronica, if not 550 - > before. 551 - > Carsten Ellermeier, CEO a: Thank you.
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