EMS@C-LEVEL
As Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company and SCOOP writer, Philip Stoten, continues to talk to EMS (Electronic Manufacturing Services) executives he learns more about their individual and collective experiences and their expectations for their own businesses and for the entire electronic manufacturing industry.
EMS@C-LEVEL
From Quotes To Confidence: How Luminovo Is Rewiring EMS Collaboration, Founder Sebastian Schaal
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
What if the fastest way to fix electronics supply chains starts with the quote? We dig into how targeting that high-pressure moment—where BOM clarity, sourcing, manufacturability, and price collide—catalyzes a broader shift from scattered spreadsheets to connected, resilient operations. By standardizing part data across millions of SKUs, integrating live pricing and lead times, and introducing customer portals, EMS teams cut response times dramatically and win on trust, not just cost.
And that's just the start of this in-depth conversation with Luminovo Managing Director and Founder Sebastian Schaal, conducted on the show floor at productronica 2025. From there, we widen the lens to show how a “tool you use” becomes a “system that works for you.” Always-on monitoring tracks price shifts, lead time volatility, lifecycle and compliance risks, and geopolitical exposure, then flags precise exceptions so teams act before problems surface. We talk through why ERP and MES should keep their lanes while a vertical CRM and SRM for electronics connect customers, suppliers, and the external parts universe. The result is a glass pipeline: shared visibility that shortens cycles, reduces errors, and captures savings that used to slip away.
We also map the trust curve of AI automation. Early stages deliver alerts and recommendations; confidence grows with one-click approvals; mature teams hand routine sourcing to autopilot while keeping humans in the loop for edge cases. With new AI interfaces turning ten clicks into one clear command—and transparent reasoning behind actions—speed no longer requires opacity. Along the way, we highlight collaborations with leading EMS players, expansion from Europe to the U.S., and why openness beats secrecy when the true enemies are bad data, manual processes, and pure arbitrage.
Subscribe for more grounded conversations on connected manufacturing, smart sourcing, and supply chain resilience. If this episode sparked ideas or questions, share it with your team and leave a review telling us what you want tackled next.
EMS@C-Level is hosted by global inspection leaders Koh Young (https://www.kohyoung.com) and Global Electronics Association (https://www.electronics.org)
You can see video versions of all of the EMS@C-Level pods on our YouTube playlist.
Setting The Stage In Munich
SPEAKER_01Hello, I'm Philip Stoughton. I am on the Co Young Boo, the Productronica 2025, and I'm joined by Sebastian Charles from Luminovo. Sebastian, first of all, thanks for the last night. It was a really enjoyable evening. The first ever Munich Electronics mate. Yeah, very good, very good event. You had a fantastic turnout. It just goes to show that you really have connected with the European industry. You seem to have really achieved a lot of success by taking one specific problem and solving it for everybody. Talk me through the kind of thinking and the strategy
Disconnected Data As Root Cause
SPEAKER_01behind that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I think first of all, thank you so much. I think it was definitely a big risk that we took saying, can we really assemble 150, 200 people coming kind of just for us, not like at a booth party at the show. And I think, yeah, we were very positively surprised that this turned out so well and uh glad that you came by as well. So we got some international audience as well, not just the Europeans. Um, but yeah, I think in general, our feeling is that we see many of the problems that we see in the whole electronics industry in the supply chain are kind of really arising from disconnected data. Yeah. And that of course is gonna they like business processes always forms people, so it's also disconnected supply chain, disconnected people. And we felt like such an event is a great like reminder that bringing people together offline, but also helping us to collaborate more effectively online is probably one way forward to increase resilience and maybe solve some of the problems that we that we kind of have.
Collaboration Online And Offline
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think that idea of connectivity, and you know, I think you doubled down on that in your in your final presentation, really, really that it's not just about how we connect the machines, how we connect the data, how we connect everything else, but but you know, how we connect and we think as a as an industry and how we try and become more collaborative and more focused on the fact that actually many of our problems are common to all of the EMS companies or all of the printed circuit board companies. And if we can if we can all work together to create a solution, it's better for everybody. And I think I think that really came through, and it was great to talk to so many EMS leaders about it. Talk a bit about the journey of I I can't remember when we first spoke, but I it was a few years ago, not that many years ago, and you were really the new kid on the block. And uh nobody nobody knew knew who you were. You weren't a dad yet, so there's a lot of water under the bridge since then. But talk me through that journey and how important
Luminovo’s Origin And Mission
SPEAKER_01those collaborations with some of the biggest AMS in Europe have been in mind.
SPEAKER_00So I think generally when we looked at the whole what we're gonna do for the next 10, 20 years with our company position, we said, okay, we think that the electronics industry is one of the most exciting industries of our day and age and will become even more important 10, 20 years down the line. And we specifically felt that this like idea to a market ready product phase, so not the chip level, but kind of the board level where really the innovations of tomorrow uh get assembled, that this is really the piece. If we can make that better, faster, cheaper, then uh we know why we're getting up every morning. So that was kind of the mission statement that we had very early on. And then kind of from a first principles perspective, we felt okay, like it's a big problem to solve and a big ambition. How can we like second and then and then kind of do a segmentation and then uh uh transition on this?
EMS As Unsung Heroes
SPEAKER_00And then we really felt that like a contrarian belief, maybe is the we feel that the EMS companies are in the kind of the center of that supply chain, and they're maybe the kind of unsung heroes of the industry. They do lots of they have a lifting when it comes to kind of data normalization, supply chain procurement, um, but they get very little credit for it, and also very little people build very good software for them. And so we felt that's a very clear problem, specifically in that quoting stage, yeah, where in a very short period of time you have to answer all important questions of a product, yeah. Like pass the bomb, source the components, assess manufacturing costs, just to provide a price. Yeah, we felt okay, it's a burning need with functionality that once solved can also be expanded at other pieces of that supply chain. So we felt that's a great nucleus to start. So we said that's where we're gonna double down. We are from originally from Germany, so that's where we started, and we tried to become that the leading quoting solution for DMSs.
Choosing Quoting As Beachhead
SPEAKER_00And this has worked uh fairly well. We um had some customers in like medium segments, then we had like for example, BMK who leaned into that like customer collaboration piece very early on, where they said they think we can build like a lightweight version of this and directly loop our customers.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, customer portals, right?
SPEAKER_00The customer portal we still in, and that basically was kind of the nucleus of many of these different modules. But then I would say definitely when like Solner jumped in, also said like this customer portal topic, that's like where we want to go, we want to jar the Luminobus journey first. Uh, where I think definitely the brand awareness grew significantly, and we had many uh of the other people in the industry follow. Yeah, so that really I think led to us becoming, I would say, the kind of dominant player in Europe for the EMS space. And I think now uh we have these two vectors that we're exploring is one taking what works well in the EMS in Europe
Customer Portals And Brand Breakthrough
SPEAKER_00globally, and the US is currently our fastest growing new market, and the other thing is taking that uh front to the supply chain directly to the OEMs. Yeah, they of course they look at the same data and same problem from a different lens, yeah, but the technology underneath can be reused. Yeah, so that's like where I think our early hypothesis that these modules we're building for the quoting have like universal value seems to be worth checking out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it makes sense, doesn't it? You're you're kind of almost the first touch point of that OEM, EMS relationship, and you're accelerating that. And that traditionally has been a slow, cumbersome process, a process that has had lots of room for error in, and you you're able to eradicate that. And you did very quickly become a dominant, a dominant
Expansion To U.S. And OEMs
SPEAKER_01force in that market. And what I think you've incredibly successfully done, and relationships with BMK and and Zolner are a great example, these are old school companies. These are companies that have been manufacturing in Germany that have built up their scale over decades. And you guys coming in as kind of the new kids on the block with some fresh ideas, the combination of having that and and that experience feels really comforting and it feels really reliable. So I think that was uh that was really smart. I like the idea of like the new bits of the product you were talking about last night where you're you know you're adding functionality to that, you're adding extra visibility when there's obsolescence, you're you're adding market information as to when there's you know when there's price influctuation, so they can they can gain benefits. So that that
Fixing A Slow OEM–EMS Handshake
SPEAKER_01makes sense. But when I look at it, I think, okay, well, if that's the first touch point, there's a whole bunch of things before the product goes out the door where you can also help. Is that also part of the strategy? Do you work your way through the process with someone like a zona, with someone like a BMK, with with the industry, now that you've you know learned how that industry works?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think we just have you have to always just pick your battles wisely. And we kind of for us said, okay, um if I look at the EMS company, right, there is there's the kind of ERP system, and then there's maybe a manufacturing execution system. Like these are very deep products, and there's there's some things that they were originally designed for, and those things you don't want to touch, right? We don't want to touch financial accounting and inventory management, and you also don't want to touch the whole manufacturing execution side. But many some of these systems try to be like uh best of all things, but ended up being like a one size fits none. Yeah, and I think we want to bring those
Product Extensions: Risk And Pricing Visibility
SPEAKER_00tools down to the bare essentials, what they were great for. But these are often like systems of records like that sit on-prem that are internally focused, but there's so much going on that has interfaces to the outside world, yeah, like being into customers, to suppliers, but also in electronics, to that vast part catalog, right? You have two billion SKUs in the world, yeah, and that that is usually not something that you have on-prem, it's out in the world, and all these interfaces are thinking the things that we can do extremely well. Yeah, and like if so, if you're an MS company, get the ERP as the bear at that bone, but then we can potentially at some point become like your vertical CRM, your vertical SRM, yeah, and all the coding and design pieces. So these are, I think, natural extensions for us to provide like an industry-specific suite that does all that. That's maybe on the as far as we can go on the EMS side. I think the last piece you could imagine is this whole purchasing and updating supply chain element, purchasing itself is an ERP territory, but the
Picking Battles Around ERP And MES
SPEAKER_00maybe the gateway to the suppliers is something that again would fall into our realm of possibilities.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, when you now talk about the OEM, I think the biggest transition that we've seen is for the EMSs, the first thing we sold them was kind of productivity, right? They need to get these quotes out the door faster and cheaper, and that drives great business results. They're making more top line because they win more quotes, and also the better sourcing. Exactly. And also they have really material cost savings. But that's really the productivity tools, are they provide value when you're using them, right? As a tool, yeah. And I think the big change we're now undergoing and that are extremely important for the strategic buyers at EMSs, but mostly the OMs, is this like becoming a system. Yeah, and I think the system analogy is the tool does something even if you're not online. Yeah, so it kind of works behind the scenes 24-7, like maybe an agentic, an agent that really checks the supply chain
Building A Vertical CRM And SRM
SPEAKER_00and some other connections you have 24-7, and then loops you in if there are risks or opportunities, right? Risks, mitigating risk means protecting your top line, and like seizing opportunities means additional cost savings. Yeah, I think that's the big shift we're now undergoing. And the three things, as you mentioned yesterday, is supply chain, like the strategic monitoring, prices, lead time stocks, and all the risks and opportunities that arise from that. The other piece is the risk management assets that are also bringing in compliance, lifecycle, geo risks, all in one cockpit. We have elements of that already, but seeing having a really centralized view just on risk. And the other piece that we also see as a cumbersome piece is the whole supplier relationship management topic, which is you know, the whole onboarding of suppliers, performance management, spend analysis. These are also also jobs that are often today done in spreadsheets, yeah, but they benefit from these the real-time uh updateness, but also the connection to the rest of our rest of the system, yeah. And um, yeah, I think that's like very exciting opportunities. And we I just talked to some companies at the booth today, they were there yesterday, and they said, like, if you
From Tools To Always‑On Systems
SPEAKER_00if you execute on that, we can get rid of three, four different systems.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, and bring it all into one, exactly, and have harmonized data for this industry, right?
SPEAKER_00We don't want to sell it, we don't want to be to every industry, but for this industry, we want to be the partner when it comes to digitization and automation.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, it makes absolute sense. And you said you said it's about picking your battles. Some of it's about the battles picking you, and the battles that pick you are the ones that have the greatest cost saving, and you you chose you chose wisely with your first um solution because that inability to quote fast was really hampering, hampering top line growth, and it's also it's also a bad start to the customer relationship. The customer relationship
Unified Risk Cockpit And SRM Modernization
SPEAKER_01is based on you ask me a question, I give you an answer right away. Yeah, not you give me a question, I uh I give you an answer in four weeks. Yes, it doesn't make any sense. And if you ask two people, one gives you the answer right away, one gives you the answer a week later, we know who you who you're gonna lean towards. So uh it's make it making a big difference. And I what I really like is that idea of creating that complete transparency as well. I think that's um you know that's that's a fundamental part of the opportunity that digitization gives us. That you know, I've heard in the past people talk about the glass factory as a as a concept. I actually see the supply chain being where the value is there, and this idea of a glass pipeline where you can see where everything is, and then you can um you can derive value from that. Um, so I think that's really interesting. What do you see as the next key building blocks for Luminova? When you look over the next, you know, it's a fast-moving market. So if you look over the next two years, like from here to the next Productronica, what do
Harmonized Data As Competitive Edge
SPEAKER_01you expect to be um talking about here in two years' time?
SPEAKER_00I think like one is really increasing that surface area that we just talked about, right? Like how many other aspects of the supply chains can we can we create? And then it's of course this idea of how many of these like currently still operative workflows that require you as the human taking action. Yeah, how many of those can we move behind the scenes? Yeah, like where can we just put more automation in? So, for example, that like currently you you you load a bomb, you configure the sourcing scenarios and so on. Maybe how many of those you can say, just here's my general process, and I map it, and then it's basically just like a bot that picks it up and does these steps for you, and then again just loops you in for exceptions. So I think step one is really increasing the surface area, and then step two, how much can you move into full automation? And that's for specifically for these operative tasks, right? It's not uh black and white,
Speed To Quote As Trust Builder
SPEAKER_00it's in a sense like a uh a fader where you can say how how much from nothing, no automation to full autonomy, yeah. Where how can I move the dot slightly? Yeah, and I think that's gonna be the big conversation, and but making that into a user experience where the people don't feel that they're losing control, yeah. Because then if they lose control, they lose trust. Yeah, and making that again transparent also in the interaction is super important, and of course, in a sense, the also new forms of AI um help us to rethink some interfaces, some interactions can be not kind of 10 clicks, but can be one command. Exactly. So I think that's definitely a very interesting space that I think in two years' time the whole product uh interaction will probably look very different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think when you talk about that fader, that's really interesting. For me, that's all about the trust curve and how far you are up the trust curve. I think there's a point where you look at automation and you say, if automation is giving me exceptions and telling me that there's something different here, we should do something about it. That's kind of an early stage.
Glass Pipeline As Supply Chain Vision
SPEAKER_01There's another stage where it says there's a there's an exception here, we need to do this. Yeah, I recommend this. Um, and you just click and it gets it right. And then there's a point where you realize that it's getting it right a hundred times out of out of a hundred and one times. And then you put an autopilot. And you just you just push that slider along and you say, do it, and I'll deal with the one time you get it wrong. And that becomes, you know, that becomes the next exception that you've got to find. So it's I think it's a really nice process and a really nice system. But I kind of sense that the industry needs smart young people like you to guide us through that and help us realize when we should be, where we should be allowing that those those automated systems. So the fact that you know the industry inside out now, uh, you have great partnerships where you can sandbox these kind of um solutions, I think gives everybody a little bit more confidence. So I would say
Next Two Years: Surface Area And Automation
SPEAKER_01well done. Thank you. Thank you so much for having us. And well done for what you're doing with the whole brand. And last night I thought that was excellent. And I really think you're creating a position for yourself in the market that is that is quite unique. So yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, last night it was all about this new era of electronic supply chain. I think that's really the model that we want to carry forward, a more connected way of working. Yeah, when we started in the industry, people no one wanted to talk to each other, everyone was very closed up, and I think people are starting to open up because they realize like you're not my my like competition, right? Yeah, like manual processes, shitty data, and also maybe some of the purely arbitrage players that we still have in the system, maybe they are the enemies, right? And there will be a margin diffusion from these people, but everyone who's actually doing value at, yeah, design, manufacturing, logistics, they don't have to be afraid. Yeah, I think that's the main message.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's get you know get the data out of the silos, but get the people out of the silos too and get everybody talking. Thanks so much, Sebastian. Thank you so much.