MUNICH, Germany — At a press conference organized by the Czech and Moravian Electrical and Electronic Association at the Electronica exhibition this week in Munich, Radek Svec, shareholder of EMS provider Wendell Electronics, a.s. (Lanskroun, Czech Republic), woke up the audience with an offensive, and even provocative, view. Time has come to conquer Western Europe and replace traditional local EMS companies.

The financial crisis has already had an impact on the EMS market segment. Firstly, Svec noted, the decrease in sales of new cars, houses and luxury goods has led to a 10 to 30 percent decrease in EMS volume production. Secondly, banks have adopted stricter terms of financing, and it is harder to finance new investments.

"The crisis will be longer than we hope. I think the real troubled time will be in 2009 and it will continue through 2012," stated Svec.

The main message of Svec's speech was that even crisis brings opportunities. In today's context, Svec said there is a unique opportunity for Wendell electronics to replace traditional local EMS suppliers in Western Europe.

In 2008, Wendell Electronics said 40 percent of its customers were from Japan while only fifteen percent of customers were from Western Europe. "We have to change this structure by 2010."

Deploying his offensive, Svec declared: "To win in Western Europe, we need to come with excellent complex services [...] and invest in state of the art technologies." Coming investments will occur in silicon-on-insulator, nitrogen and selective soldering.

Moreover, Svec outlined the importance of marketing and said the key is to identify the needs and wishes of customers in Western Europe. "Numerous companies from Western Europe continue to purchase EMS from local firms even if they are more expensive," he commented. "We want to get over the distrust, and we need to believe in ourselves."

In an attempt to speak in the name of his nation, Svec declared: "The cost of one hour of work in the Czech Republic is five times lower than in Western Europe. We do not want to sell five times cheaper simply because our wages are five times lower. It is not good for anybody to keep our prices down. We do not want to sell below fair price."