Nordic EMS scene not a static entity

I would assume that most reading this article could name at least the five biggest EMS providers in the region (not including the players that are headquarter outside of the Nordic region). But do you remember all the twists and turns? Back in September of 2017, evertiq published a list of the top 10 Nordic EMS-provider (in terms of revenue from 2016). However, over the last few months a lot of changes have occurred that warrant a closer look. Ongoing competition stemming from Eastern Europe and Asia seems to have woken up a number of Nordic companies. 2017 saw significant capital investments and surprising acquisitions within the industry. Here, I want to present just a few examples:

• Danish EMS provider GPV made us all pay closer attention when it announced the acquisition of fellow Danish EMS provider BHE.
• Swedish LEAB followed suit and picked up Gothenburg-based Spocs AB.
• Enics – although headquartered in Switzerland, but with operations mainly in the Nordic region – acquired 100% of the shares in PKC Electronics Oy.
• Finnish EMS company, Reimax Electronics, announced in early 2017 that the company had expanded its operations in Estonia with another 2’500 square metres of production- and office space, on top of a relocation of its Finnish operations in Kempele.
• We’re entering April 2017, and Swedish EMS provider, Orbit One, announced it had invested in new production lines in both its Russian and Polish manufacturing facility.
• Norway’s Norbit Group was also in the mood to expand and opened up a sales office in Gothenburg (Sweden).
• In May 2017, Enics Raahe Oy announced that it would focus on ODM business and designing and manufacturing production testing equipment. Something that resulted in the layoff of about 100 employees.
• Kitron on the other hand officially opened its new facility at Torsvik in Jönköping (Sweden).
• The half way mark of the year rolled up and Norwegian EMS provider Noca could announce a record first six months.
• During the same month, Enics had started restructuring efforts in Sweden where it would execute a controlled ramp-down of the Malmö operations.
• Orbit One was getting ready to expand its Polish production operations by acquiring new buildings adjacent to the existing factory south of Gdansk. Orbit One’s CEO later told Evertiq that the company was also planning to continue to expand the Russian unit as well, adding another 1’000 square metre to the facility in Kaliningrad.
• In August, Enics’ extension of its Elva plant in Estonia stood ready for inauguration.
• In October, GPV made a major investment in a new manufacturing facility in Mexico. And it took only a month before the Danish company announced that it would expand the new Mexican facility with another production line yet again.

Since then, even more announcements have been made and those will surely continue into our inbox during 2018. If you are curious about the overall landscape of the Nordic EMS industry; who is doing what?; etc. should come to our aforementioned event in Helsinki and listen to Peter Brent, consultant for market researcher Reed Electronics Research. More information about the event can be found here.