Up Close with Gustavo Sepulveda, Panasonic Connect

Eric speaks with Gustavo Sepulveda, who is Process Automation Business Head, North America, at Panasonic Connect. The two discuss the progress of the trend of nearshoring and its considerable impact on manufacturing in Mexico. The journey to the autonomous factory has gotten more attention since the pandemic in part because of the talent shortage for manufacturing. Gustavo comments that there will be a limit to the natural capacity available in the Americas for electronics manufacturing. Traditionally, this region focused on low volume/high mix products; it will be difficult to bring all types of products back to the region.

The key will be to increase electronics manufacturing equipment flexibility and resilience and to mitigate risk through intelligent access to data analysis to reduce waste and increase efficiencies of SMT equipment and processes.