Foxconn was in the news (again) last month, this time for alleging competitors are poaching its employees.

The complaints were levied specifically at rivals in Vietnam, where the world’s largest ODM/EMS is expanding its factories as major customers like Apple shift production away from China, in part to avoid being a pawn in the geopolitical tug-of-war between the US and China.

Foxconn, which currently employs about 60,000 workers in Vietnam, asserts its EMS competitors are establishing their own operations near Foxconn’s to make it easier to entice workers to jump ship.

Poaching complaints are hardly new, of course. Mexico is notorious for workers relocating en masse from company to company in pursuit of everything from higher pay to better food in the plant cafeteria.

Audrey McGuckin, who spent 10 years as chief talent officer for Jabil and now consults to Kimball Electronics, among others, points out the top stress point for CEOs is talent. And a McKinsey study found only 5% of CEOs feel their organizations’ talent management has been very effective at improving company performance.

ATLANTA – After a run of two years of overall positive sales sentiment and expectation for electronic components, the June 2022 Electronic Component Sales Trend Survey dropped below the benchmark level of 100, indicating negative sales growth, according to ECIA.

QUEBEC – Ampère Proto shut down operations permanently here May 11 because of a lack of staff and components, according to reports.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Sixty-four percent of experts recently polled believe 5G will become mainstream in the next one to three years; 59% strongly agreed 5G transitions will create opportunities for new telecom companies; and 42% strongly believe a “killer app” will propel 5G’s true potential, according to results from Jabil’s 2022 global 5G survey.