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September 2016 • SMT Magazine 111 of a need already because it will enable us to ad- dress those challenges such as time-to-market, cost—the usual things that manufacturers face. What's shaping that, and what allows us to be able to do that is the vision of Industry 4.0. And I see more and more automation—such as ro- botics—in the factory floor. The use of IT, not just to do reporting but really to do more ad- vanced stuff. It's really the guiding force in the industry right now, and it's really what's en- abling us to go to the next level. Las Marias: How do companies justify investments in such advanced technologies? Dr. Sabido: There are actually two ways of look- ing at it. The obvious one is that it really should make business sense. The biggest justification is that it really should make manufacturing more effective and result in cost savings. This is what we've seen in some of the things we're doing in our journey towards Industry 4.0, and I think we are leading the pack. We made an announce- ment last year about our tie-up with IBM and Apple for a smart factory. The way we justify it is that it would make us more cost effective; granted it cannot be applied to a lot of different lines. And I think that's where the secret is—although it's not that secret. There are certain lines where it's applica- ble, for instance, SMT equipment really screams for automation; for IT to actually help; and to increase your OEE, to name a few. The way you monitor your scrap—that's fairly straight forward. And that will already re- sult in cost savings. That in itself justifies the investments we are putting in the front end, the front line, which is the SMT area. The back- end is the one that's more challenging because that's where a lot of variations come in, which require a lot more creative ways of going about it. Probably, not all the lines will have that, but there are lines that justify that. For lines that re- ally require you to have very consistent quality, very tight tolerances, I think that's where it can become effective. For things like in automotive, wherein you really have to tightly control it, and in some- thing where robots can actually help you, can achieve very tight tolerances; I think that's where the investments make sense. Where you actually need to produce something at very high speed, and really run operations 24/7 minimiz- ing the downtime and changeover time, that's where robotics can get you more out of your machine and your line. That's where Indus- try 4.0 makes sense. And everybody is actually looking at it, including low-cost-labor countries because there are some lines or some products where that makes sense. Las Marias: What challenges and opportunities do you see for your company in the upcoming year? Dr. Sabido: I think the most obvious is really executing our roadmap for Industry 4.0. That is something that's very important. The other one is something that the industry as a whole is facing, and it's not only for EMS companies, but every company in general: talent. At the last SEIPI show, I gave a talk on the strategies and the challenges that companies are facing right now. And my basis was the 2016 Deloitte study on global manufacturing competitiveness. They interviewed more than 500 senior executives of manufacturing companies—they do it every three years—and the number one challenge for the past six years has been talent: getting skilled people and hiring great engineers. In spite of talking about automation and the need for oth- er advanced manufacturing technologies, they really need great people. And that's what can make or break a company. Not only in the Phil- ippines, but globally; the manufacturing indus- try is experiencing the same thing. The number one pain point and challenge will always be people. Where to get good peo- ple, how to get good people, because it's a very fierce competition right now globally for good talent. The Philippines has been experiencing that, other ASEAN countries, outside ASEAN as well, and even China and North America and Europe: it's retaining talent, acquiring them, training them, and really growing them. You re- ally have to take care of your people, to make sure that they continue to be motivated and ex- cited with the work that they do. The second one is circling back to what I mentioned: advances in manufacturing tech- nologies are really there for the picking, and IONICS TALKS INDUSTRY 4.0, MIL/AERO OPPORTUNITIES, AND SUPPLY CHAIN