The paradigm shift, already announced in 2019 and accelerated by the pandemic, leaves hardly a stone unturned. Turck duotec GmbH, Halver, has now announced the takeover of ml&s GmbH in Greifswald. This means that duotec has made the leap from 11th to 5th place. Greifswald can certainly be described as a location with a labor cost advantage due to its location. It is therefore not surprising that the intention is to further increase production there. These are very positive signals for the location, which is otherwise located on the outskirts of Germany. All other EMS providers should sit up and take notice, because the battle for the ranks will continue.

The large EMS providers will continue to grow more strongly in percentage terms than the smaller EMS providers, if only due to inorganic growth. Consolidation is taking place, which can also be described as the EMS market coming of age.

The OEMs, which still produce around 64% of all assemblies, will have to consider how long they can continue to explain to their shareholders that they are not taking advantage of the cost benefits that the EMS industry offers them with an average of 20% lower costs. To help OEM buyers find the right EMS production partner in the future, the EMS Scout (www.ems-scout,de) is currently being set up, which from January onwards will offer assistance to companies searching according to search criteria.