BONUS - IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac talks trends at APEX 2023 - EMSNOW & SCOOP On Location

EMS@C-LEVEL · 30 Jan 2023 · 11m

What this episode covers

IPC Chief Economist Shawn DuBravac discusses 2023 electronics industry trends, highlighting the shift from pandemic-era growth to a 'new normal' of steady, single-digit growth driven by strong demand in defense and aerospace, while consumer electronics face headwinds. He explains how AI and machine learning are being applied to manufacturing data to optimize production, and notes that despite labor shortages, reshoring initiatives like the Chips Act are proceeding as long as demand signals remain robust. DuBravac emphasizes that supply chain disruptions have eased and costs are stabilizing, allowing EMS companies to leverage their healthy backlogs through 2023 despite broader economic headwinds.

Other shows on the same ground, closest first.

  • OnTrack · 32m

    What to Expect at IPC APEX 2025: Standards, Innovation & Networking

    Dr. John W. Mitchell, President and CEO of IPC, discusses IPC APEX 2025, describing it as North America's largest electronics manufacturing event that combines an exhibition, technical conferences, and standards development. He highlights the event's focus on workforce development, including the new Learning Lounge and the Emerging Engineer Program, to address the industry's aging workforce and skills gap. The conversation also covers emerging technologies like Ultra-High Density Interconnect (UHDI) and advanced packaging, noting the challenges of reshoring this capacity to the US despite government investments from the CHIPS Act.

  • The Manufacturing Executive · 21m

    How Technology is Changing the Manufacturing Game w/ Dr. John Mitchell

    Dr. John Mitchell, President & CEO of IPC (the Global Electronics Industry Association), discusses the transformation of manufacturing from manual labor to high-tech operations. He highlights IPC's initiatives like IPC Edge for scalable workforce training and the Factory of the Future program, which helps manufacturers adopt AI and automation without massive capital expenditure. Mitchell also addresses the current semiconductor supply chain crisis, attributing it to the rapid shift in automotive production during the pandemic, and outlines IPC's engagement with government policy on semiconductors and infrastructure.

  • Manufacturing Happy Hour · 1h 09m

    276: 2026 Automation Industry Outlook, Live from the A3 Business Forum

    Host Chris Luecke interviews economists and industry leaders at the A3 Business Forum about the 2026 automation outlook. Economist Alex Chausovsky argues that manufacturing is transitioning from uncertainty to complexity, urging companies to rely on hard CapEx data rather than sentiment. Bob Little of Novanta and Alex Shikany of A3 discuss the $1+ trillion investment boom in US manufacturing and the critical role of smart automation in addressing labor shortages. Faye Goldstein of Barden and Stu Shepherd of Shepherd Solutions explore practical AI implementation in sales and the rigorous safety standards developed through theme park robotics.

  • OnTrack · 22m

    OnTrack PCB Design Podcast 2025 Year in Review

    Host Zach Peterson reviews 2025 industry trends, highlighting how tariffs reshaped global supply chains and spurred UHDI manufacturing expansion in the US. Guests including David Schild, Tyler Richards, and Greg Papandrew discuss the economic realities of reshoring, the technical challenges of high-layer count and rigid-flex PCBs, and the specific innovations in solder paste and substrate materials. The episode also examines the practical application of AI in embedded development and supply chain management, noting both its utility in automating coding tasks and its current limitations in deterministic engineering optimization.

  • Over the Air · 43m

    IoT Trends: A Year in Review and 2023 Predictions with Rob Tiffany and Bill Flaherty

    Rob Tiffany, Founder of Sustainable Logix, and Bill Flaherty, Director of Hardware Engineering at Very, review 2022 IoT trends and predict 2023 developments. They discuss how the chip shortage forced a shift from locking in specific microcontrollers to using abstraction layers like Zephyr, and highlight the democratization of technology in Ukraine through commercial drones and Starlink. The guests argue that major IoT platform shutdowns (Ericsson, SAP, Google) signal a pivot toward vertical-specific solutions, while predicting that falling sensor prices, edge AI processors like the NXP i.MX 95, and the rise of generative AI will define the coming year.

The summary, chapters and topics are generated from the episode’s audio by this directory, not written by EMS@C-LEVEL. The episode itself belongs to its publisher.