Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Nolan’s Notes: Moving Forward With Confidence

We’re currently enjoying a revitalized and dynamic EMS provider market with significant growth potential. Since December 2024, the book-to-bill has been extremely strong and growing. Starting with a ratio of 1.24 in December, book-to-bill has continued to accelerate to a 1.41 in April.

Yet, there is a global economic restructuring taking place. To say that the back-and-forth with tariffs and trade deals makes for an uncertain market is an understatement. While we may be in a 90-day tariff pause among leading economic nations, the deadline is quickly approaching and that leaves many of you feeling unsettled about what to expect.

When we combine those two market trends—market growth and economic uncertainty—it may seem as if we are sailing in the fog, hoping to avoid the rocky shore as we look for a lighthouse ahead. How do we keep our businesses in the lane we’ve chosen with all these unexpected obstacles? Do we reset our sails (pun intended) to take advantage of the cloud bank to dodge some competitors and develop new business opportunities?

Coincidentally, for the last month, the I-Connect007 team has been reading and reviewing Blue Ocean Strategy by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne. This book has been around for 20 years, but its fundamental principles have been the catalyst for many companies to examine their business practices and shift into high gear toward something better in the face of challenging market conditions like we’re currently facing. It has reminded me of Spencer Johnson’s 1998 business book, Who Moved My Cheese? These two books bring us around to the same message: There’s a similar growth cycle fueled by economic and technological disruption. If you’re finding your “cheese” in motion, then it’s time to revisit your niche and your specialty.

I’ve also been reviewing the raw performance data from two different EMS surveys conducted by IPC in Q1 2025. In both reports, respondents share their recent business results, opinions on the current economic and market conditions, and what they see coming. The insights I gleaned from those reports might not have been that surprising, but they were telling. It influenced the direction I took for the June issue of SMT007 Magazineand will undoubtedly have quite a lasting influence on coming issues.

That brings me to the content for the June 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine, where we’re narrowing our focus to sales and quoting. In the IPC surveys, respondents overwhelmingly shared that sales and quoting were the two areas where they were investing (or needed to invest) in new systems.

If you quote a large number of jobs per month as a courtesy (meaning you know you’re not likely to win that business) or you find your quote team is overwhelmed, perhaps it’s time to look at improving your quoting process. In the IPC surveys, many respondents reported that software system integration was difficult, expensive, time-consuming, and problematic. It was also worth noting that the most common quoting software was described as “developed in-house.” When I asked Chintan Sutaria, formerly of CalcuQuote, that conversation turned into an insightful interview.

At IPC APEX EXPO 2025, I met Jurgen Schmerler, CEO of WaveOn. He demonstrated a creative and deceptively simple method for developing context-specific, on-the-floor access to a knowledge base and detailed exactly how he sees this new technology being implemented. WaveOn’s approach is just another unique example of how our interaction with knowledge bases and databases can evolve in the next few years.

Columnist Mike Konrad is on theme this month, discussing workforce concerns and solutions in his column, “Building the Workforce of Tomorrow with EMAC.” Josh Casper adds his perspective with his column on data integration on the line. Nash Bell discusses the current thinking on tin whisker migration and mitigation, and Tom Yang considers the confluence of cross-border partnerships and integrity in business practices.

Last month, we introduced a new interview series titled “In-depth with…”, designed to move beyond surface-level conversations and dive deep into the topics that matter most. Each installment focuses on a specific service, technology, or product, with the goal of thoroughly exploring the real-world challenges, implications, and solutions behind them. We aim to spotlight the insights, innovations, and personal experiences that are often left out of traditional interviews.

In this issue, we’re excited to feature Bert Horner, president of The Test Connection, who shares the story behind their newly launched training center. Bert offers a candid look at the motivation for the center, the gaps it's aiming to fill in the industry, and how hands-on learning is reshaping workforce development in the test engineering space.

We hope the information in this issue will help clear the clouds ahead, or at the very least, act as a radar as we navigate this changing marketplace. 

This column originally appeared in the June 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine.