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IPC COMMUNITY 28 SPRING 2025 overall EMS industry," he says. "Do U.S. companies have the same chal- lenges as we do in Europe? I saw a lot of parallels to the European business from the very small EMS company to the mid-size EMS, fam- ily-driven and family-owned com- panies. They are very local and very regional, with close partnerships. That's important, because trust has always been the secret of good partnerships in the EMS industry. It's nearly the same." This is not the only connection that Zollner has with IPC. The company has been working closely with the IPC Europe team to pro- mote the EMS provider industry in Europe, particularly in the Euro- pean Commission. What started as a small meeting in Munich between Zollner and IPC led to Xaver testify- ing before the commission. "We've really made a lot of prog- ress in the last year," he says. "After our meeting in Munich, we met in Brussels and then got in touch with the European Commission. Now, they see that there is a real PCB and electronics manufactur- ing industry in Europe. It's a whole ecosystem. This is where I'm very grateful that IPC started all these activities and has this function to partner with other associations in Europe." It matters to have IPC as the cen- tral focal point in cooperating with other institutions, he says, because electronics is a huge industry, and everyone seems to have the same challenges. Having one voice on a national level allows for faster progress. "Now there is a feeling that there is change in the air," he says. "The most important thing was that IPC managed to get different levels of the supply chain at one table. This provided a lot of transparency and insight as we talked about the silicon-to-systems approach and how it goes beyond semiconductor manufacturing. In Germany, we feel this was also appreciated by the semiconductor industry because they need customers, and we need partners. To ramp up the semicon- ductor fabs in Europe, they need to make the most of local production. That's where PCBs and others come into the game. On one hand, it's about resiliency, but it's also about competitiveness." He sees the semiconductor indus- try growing to 1 trillion euros by 2030, a boon for the PCB industry as well. "Somebody has to achieve that," Xaver says. "I always say that the PCB/EMS industries are the most interesting because there are very few industries where you really have a look into every branch. We know what's going on in indus- trial, medical, automotive, and aerospace. In our industry, we are ahead of the market." Yet the electronics industry remains largely invisible. "We never wanted to be seen," Xaver says. "We were always the guys in the back- ground who did the manufacturing and design and engineering ser- vices. But there was a turning point during COVID, especially when ven- tilators were needed, and we were the ones with the FDA approvals. We were the ones who could help." So, with more visibility, espe- cially among legislative bodies, the electronics industry must face the workforce challenges of recruiting and maintaining talent in both man- ufacturing and with engineers. "For electronics manufacturing, it's always about having enough floor space, equipment, and peo- ple," Xaver says. "We have the same challenges in our factories around the world. Where we are finding the best conditions are in Tunisia and Costa Rica. We get enough people, and they are well qualified." Zollner also meets the challenge of modernization with a focused approach. Xaver says digital trans- formation is one of the key drivers because it allows for future growth, more efficiency, and automation, which is attractive to today's work- force. "We are bringing more improve- ment to the manufacturing pro- cesses," he says, "not only on the shop floor but in the classic office areas with logistics and standard day-to-day business such as order