Bengt Broman, the new president of Mydata Automation (mydata.com), has big shoes to fill. Under his predecessor, Mårten Lundberg, revenue grew from SEK 28 million in 1988 (about $4 million) to SEK 643 million ($96 million) in 2005. But Broman is no stranger to electronics manufacturing, having served on the Mydata board since 2000, and in previous posts even procured services from some of the same companies he is now charged with selling to. He sat down with Circuits Assembly editor-in-chief Mike Buetow late June.

CA: How are you spending your first months at Mydata?

BB: I’m speaking with customers. I’m getting a feeling for what the business is like today. It is difficult to get a good feeling on where the North American market is heading. The real estate bubble; the election; the outside borrowing – how long can you expect to do that? We expected a slowdown six months ago, but are seeing no signs of that at Mydata. I also had the regional managers come together and listened to their thoughts.

CA: What are the leading indicators you use?

BB: We look at IC sales – units shipped – and growth. For us, business is replacement – an ongoing business – but growth in general drives our business.

CA: What in your experience prepared you to run a major electronics equipment OEM?

BB: LPG Allgon was an OEM; it sold equipment to companies like Ericsson and used CEMs. Many of my present customers were my suppliers at LPG Allgon. LPG was in a global market. Mydata has exactly the same types of challenges as LPG Allgon.

Also, I was the CTO of Telia, the telecom operators. Prior to that, I spent 10 years at Philips in the areas of defense, banking terminals, and industrial measurement systems. My management training was in international business.

CA: How important is it to have an engineer running a company like Mydata?

BB: I have a master’s of science in electrical engineering. I think being an engineer gives greater credibility. Years ago, the trend was more general management. Now, you need to better understand the business and the innovation. Being an engineer gives you credibility internally and externally. We are a technically oriented company living on our inventions. We have to be fast. But independent of management trends, the CEO is still responsible for the business of the company, not just its technology.

CA: At Productronica in 2005, Mydata introduced a jet printer. What is the status of that machine today?

BB: The jet printer was introduced too early. We have restarted development. I went through the project thoroughly and am confident about the development. We passed some important targets and are ready to start marketing it again. We have 10 machines in the field with early adopters.

CA: Do you think you can leverage the Mydata name to expand into the printer market?

BB: Our brand name is a strength and a door opener. Every time you introduce a product, you have a chance to talk about your other offerings. Also, it’s more than just a screen printer: The flexibility and the offline preparation make it a different animal. Its range is wider than just a screen printer.

CA: Your core strength is your placement machines. By expanding into other equipment, is there a risk you will lose focus?

BB: I will not allow a defocused organization [smiles]. But it’s true, Sales finds it much more fun to sell a new product than an existing one.

CA: Mydata’s machines are well suited for U.S. and Europe operations. What are your plans for Asia?

BB: We are still in the planning process for Asia. Our market share there is not as strong as in the U.S. or Europe. We can make a lot of improvements. It might have been a situation where our products didn’t fit the need for one product running in volume. Our strength is small batches and many changeovers per day. Many manufacturers took the McDonald’s approach: a lot of cut-and-paste types of investments.

Asia is the largest market with respect to investment. Movement was driven by low-labor costs. Frankly, that will be an endless chase. India, Central China, Vietnam. We need to reduce the influence of labor cost, to keep some production close to R&D centers. In Europe of late, there has been 40 to 50% growth in the Mydata market segment – prototype, high mix. The trend in the U.S. is the same: distance, quality and time [to market] make it practical to build locally.

CA: You mentioned you “live on your inventions.” What are some of the innovations Mydata has in store?

BB: It’s important to understand the roots of the company. We’re looking at more than just our pick-and-place machines. You have to grow the roots. We’re looking at software for tracking inventory. This is not MRP, but the interface between MRP and the process line.

CA: Have you considered post-placement inspection on the placement machine?

BB: Several customers and reps have asked about post-placement inspection. We think you could cut some costs.

CA: How would you characterize your plans for Mydata?

BB: I was on the board of directors [since 2005] before the change was made. I know my predecessor Mårten Lundberg, so the transition was easy.

The first impression is not always the correct one. I need to talk to different people to get multiple perspectives. As a company, we are not in a situation where we needed to make a drastic change. So I can afford to take the time to look.

We did make some changes to the Swedish organization. We will make more changes in sales and marketing. We named a new marketing and sales manager, Robert Göthner, an ex-IBMer. There’s a different focus for the jet printer development. There are no longer separate development teams for the pick-and-place equipment and the printer. We cross-pollinated the development teams, which reinforces the idea of “One Mydata.”

CA: What do you consider to be Mydata’s best asset?

BB: The brand, the reputation in the market. Some of our best sales force are our customers. Word gets around. Companies are open. It’s important to have continuity. Mydata has been in the market for more than 20 years.

CA: Is there an event in your career you could point to as a significant learning experience?

BB: We have a saying: Luck is in favor of those who are prepared. You think it’s luck, but you are well prepared to understand the market.

Years ago, when I was with Telia, we lost a license for a 3G mobile telephony. The company was extremely unprepared. It was a big crisis at the time.

CA: How autonomous are the regional sales operations of Mydata?

BB: We understand the importance of a local presence. You must have local understanding and local service. You have to be close to your customers. It’s more of a challenge in Europe. We also need easy access to support at HQ. It is an area to which I am very, very sensitive.

The U.S. operations have had a significant amount of autonomy. It is by far the largest market in the Mydata Group. But you have to be aware that the decisions you make are important from a global perspective. For example, making decisions based on price and cost on a global, not a local, scale.

CA: Outside of Asia, what are some of the markets on the rise?

BB: There is higher capacity utilization in Mexico. In Eastern Europe, the markets started with EMS companies moving to the Baltic areas. The cost of labor increased to the extent they are moving into Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. But the market is not easy to access because of political developments. The majority of the market is not stable, but promising. For example, the engineering skill in Russia is extremely high. The infrastructure is not fully in place, but it has potential.

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