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productronica 2021 EMS aus Europa Ihr Partner für Electronic Manufacturing Services electronics cms e lec t ron ics a l l i nc lus i ve B3 260 Wir freuen uns auf Ihren Besuch Anzeige Online or facetoface material shortages pandemic frustration Between “new normality” and ongoing stress The effects of two years of crisis management can be felt throughout the whole organization ” this is how Markus Aschenbrenner board member of Zollner sums up the current climate While thanks to improved vaccination possibilities the signs are slowly pointing to an easing of the situation disruptions caused by “material shortages” are fueling the fires of constant stress for the entire EMS industry One can hardly call the current environment the new normality because there can be no talk at present of “normality” in the sense of things being predictable in electronics production “Hats off to the workforce in our industry for the flexibility they have shown ” says Gerd Ohl shareholder and Managing Director of Limtronik The effects of the pandemic on everyday working life are still being felt everywhere and are putting a strain on both employees and management But while on the one hand a tentative easing is in sight the supply chain is becoming a nightmare when it comes to materials procurement Sometimes there are not enough components to manufacture and sometimes all the parts for numerous orders arrive at once The pressure on employees and management is immense “We are currently discussing introducing new regulations about how we will accept orders in the near future to reduce pressure on the organization “ explains Andreas Schneider Managing Director and Procurator at BMK “But explaining this to customers requires very delicate handling “ Marco Balling Managing Director of productware sees it as management’s responsibility to cushion stress and pressure and says very clearly “Ihold discussions with customers about what their expectations are and what we can realistically achieve because you can’t solve a difficult situation by pressure alone We will not work better if we increase the pressure There has to be a dialog and there are limits which we also communicate “ Shorttime working can help Where production lines are forced to stand still due to shortages of components shorttime working can be deployed despite full order books this is a bitter pill for those affected Felix Timmermann EVP of Asteelflash is nevertheless grateful to have this possibility “We have flexibility tools here such as shorttime working and working hour accounts that are not available elsewhere Colleagues in the U Shave no choice but to lay off in such circumstances “ In the US such terminations are relatively easy but then the employees are gone and with them their knowhow “When production rampsup again new employees must first be trained Having such tools available to us has helped a great deal here in Central Europe They allow us to retain the employees and access their knowledge again “ Timmermann emphasizes Roland Hollstein Managing Director of Grundig Business Systems however is skeptical about accepting the advantages of shorttime working “You need a critical mass for this in order to be able to implement certain things For example shorttime working is certainly a good instrument but if you put individual employees on shorttime work to achieve a quota a whole house of cards could collapse on you because overall the critical mass needed to implement certain projects is no longer there The bigger you are the easier you can scale “ The urge to return to the company At many manufacturing sites concepts are currently being finetuned which are intended to allow for more normality again without neglecting hygiene measures For a long time most EMS companies worked with strictly separate groups on the shopfloor This was a heavy burden for the employees to carry confirms Michael Velmeden who is Managing Director of cms electronics of Austria “In the meantime we have deliberately abandoned the group concept and brought our employees together again on the one hand for reasons of efficiency and on the other hand to give the employees a feeling of belonging again “ says Velmeden The material shortage situation nevertheless has added to the ongoing stresslevel among his employees complains Velmeden who now plans to invest part of the cms electronics’ medical budget in a company psychologist a suggestion that was welcomed by the employees According to Markus Aschenbrenner from Zollner Elektronik large EMS companies are also hiring company psychologists who are frequented more often these days than in normal times “For the employees the situation is an enormous psychological strain “ agrees Arthur Rönisch managing director of Turck duotec “Social contact has fallen by the wayside to some extent Many employees felt the urge to return to the company to exchange ideas We want to encourage and expand this social fabric again “ Rönisch insists that the hygiene measures currently in place will be maintained in the future pointing out that the overall sickness rate has also been reduced However according to Rönisch such hygiene concepts have of course also cost the company money Expenses that cannot be passed on 1 1 to the customer and therefore gnaw away at the margin How much virtual culture is good for employees and the company? Most of the roundtable participants agree that mobile working where it makes sense and is feasible will also become part of the new normality After all flexibility will continue to be an important tool for the EMS industry To what extent can a facetoface culture be realized again? “Digitization for example virtual meetings helped us greatly throughout the pandemic also in our communications with suppliers and customers This has offered us more bandwidth in terms of flexibility However this also leads to higher stress levels especially in the administrative areas “ Markus Aschenbrenner notes Other panelists applauded the efficiency advantages of online meetings Roland Hollstein highlights increased discipline with regard to meeting duration “Meetings that used to last three hours may now only take one hour “ However according to the panelists product releases or short “shopfloor meetings“ for example can also be held effectively online “Remote management for example only works to a limited extent in my opinion “ counters Marco Balling Managing Director of productware Incidentally the desire for facetoface meetings is growing again not only internally but also externally among customers and suppliers as some panel members confirmed Nevertheless most participants also want to retain the video culture to a certain extent as part of the “new normality“ Conclusion It‘s all about finding the right mix zü ■ Agood 18 months after the start of the pandemic hygiene concepts have long since become a routine part of EMS manufacturing More acceptable vaccination rates meanwhile allow some kind of normality to return The EMS panel discussion at Markt Technik discussed the question what “new normality“ looks like in the EMS industry Markus Aschenbrenner Zollner “The effects of two years of crisis management can be felt throughout the whole organization ”