Productronica is primarily an exhibition for showcasing electronics assembly equipment and materials, but in a few cases those manning booths are producers instead.

More than a dozen EMS companies exhibited this year. All were smaller players, with sales ranging from a few million to about $150 million. Unlike two years ago, when many EMS were clustered by country, Estonia was the only nation to sponsor a common booth this year. The other participating EMS were generally located nearby, helping to fill out the otherwise shrinking bare board fabrication exhibition space.

Technocare Electronic Systems (TES), also known under the WTronic name, has a production plant in Italy where it has two SMT lines, a box build site in Slovenia, and employs 80 workers. It focuses on industrial, lighting and medical applications. More than half of its revenue is from domestic sources, and less than 10% comes from outside the EU.

Also in Italy, FM Elettronica will be moving to a new plant that more than doubles its footprint and adding an SMT line in 2019. Currently it operates in a 38,000 sq. ft. site in Guidizzolo, home to its 120 workers and two SMT lines. The firm performs PCB design, SMT, final assembly and build enclosures for the automotive, power supply, renewable energy and biomedical sectors.

Astron is bare bones: three standalone machines in its 10,800 sq. ft. plant in Feistritz, Austria, where 22 workers build prototype boards.

Katronik Group has performed EMS in Austria since 1995. It added a plant in Slovenia in 2007, and its 150 workers offer a full slate of design, assembly, test and final assembly services, plus components such as inductors.

Esemda in Lithuania now has three SMT lines and 70 employees and supplies design, SMT and mechanical assembly services for a range of industries, including defense, industrial, medical and telecom.

CMS was among the larger EMS exhibiting, with 220 workers at its Austria headquarters, plus another 250 in Hungary and 40 at its NPI plant in Germany. It has a total of eight SMT lines between Austria and Germany, while the Hungary site performs box build assembly. About 70% of its revenue is from automotive, 20% industrial and the rest medical and renewable energy.

The two largest EMS players at Productronica this year were Nationgate and Global EMS H.K. The former is based in Malaysia and has reached $150 million in sales. The latter is based in Hong Kong, with two factories in Southeast China, and has revenues approaching $100 million.

Eversun is running at about $45 million a year in revenues. It operates at a 108,000 sq. ft. factory in Taiwan, where it houses five SMT lines. It was established in 1994 and is up to 300 employees, focusing on prototypes and NPI work for the medical, transportation, gaming, and security industries.

Switzerland-based Cicor is working on a new 140,000 sq. ft. building in Arad, Romania, located adjacent to its existing site. The new plant is scheduled for opening in the second half of 2018. Cicor makes bare boards and supplies EMS.

Finally, the award for uniqueness goes to Selteka, a Lithuanian EMS that has designed and built an inline-capable automatic programming, calibration and functional tester and AOI. The firm uses it on one of its four SMT lines and says it plans to fully implement the new machine – which doesn’t have a name but is being commercialized – across all its lines.

Listen to Mike Buetow's podcast from Productronica at PCB Chat.

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