COVER » Future Technologies Interview with Guenter Lauber CEO of ASMPT SMT Solutions Segment Ongoing digital transformation for the industry 18 EPPEurope » 04|2021
AT A GLANCE EPPEurope: The industrial and economic recovery from the coronavirus is currently underway as government restrictions are starting to be lifted. Have there been any consequences for the company so far? Will the current market situation significantly impact the company this year? Guenter Lauber: The past year has been extremely challenging – for our customers and In the interview, ASMPT reveals the importance partners as well as for us. But our teams, of an integrated Smart globally, have responded in an excellent way. Factory modular approach for the success wards digitalization and major trends like 5G, What also helped was that the global push to- of the future. Smart Factory and Smart Home triggered new growth impulses with many of our customers despite the pandemic. And in some special segments such as advanced packaging, the rapidly rising demand gave us sales increases of more than 50 percent. We also raised our sales in the SMT Solutions segment. During all this, we benefited from our global presence, our strong customer service, and our modern product portfolio, all of which are perfect for times like these. And with the coming easing of restrictions, we expect the broad recovery in the global economy – in some cases with extensive catch-up effects. Accordingly, we have good reasons to be optimistic. EPPEurope: How have the recent changes as a result of the pandemic affected ASM? Was the company prepared? The CEO of the ASMPT SMT Solutions Segment and Executive Vice President of ASMPT, Guenter Lauber, discusses the company‘s effort to help customers build with their integrated Smart Factory Automation plays an important role in the push towards an integrated Smart Factory. It has contributed to a digital transformation in the electronics industry, as it offers more flexibility and security. ASMPT provides complete in-line solutions for all key steps needed in the manufacturing process to set up optimal production lines of the future. The company is staying agile, while keeping an open collaboration with partners, to best achieve individual requirements to get past these challenging times. Source: ASMPT Guenter Lauber: Our primary focus was on protective measures for our employees all over the world. As far as keeping our customer supplied with products and spare parts, our global presence was a great strength. Our production network with factories in the EU, Great Britain and Asia is set up in such a way that we can produce virtually all machines, components, and solutions anywhere. This flexible and highly resilient network allowed us to supply our customers consistently, with very few delays. In addition, we are present in all regions with offices and service hubs. And where customers had to close their factories to outside visitors, we could support them very successfully with remote services. A key reference block was our Industry Survey 2020, a global survey on coronavirus measures and resiliency. From the answers and conversations, we knew early on under what difficult conditions the companies had to operate in the different parts of the world. Together with our customers, we developed solutions ranging from remote services, online training seminars and modified spare parts stockpiling up EPPEurope » 04|2021 19
