How An EMS Firm Uses Smart Acquisitions To Diversify And Thrive with C-MAC CEO Riwan Tamic

The best technology rarely shouts; it just works. I sit down with C-MAC CEO Riwan Tamic at Productronica 2025 to unpack how an EMS leader keeps complex programs on track while much of the market wrestles with delays, margin pressure, and shifting demand. From the outside, it looks like a story about parts and lines. Inside, it’s about people, process, and the quiet decisions that keep supply chains stable and customers confident.

We trace a pivotal year that began with a Poland acquisition designed for three wins at once: strategic geography within the EU, a deep bench of high-skill engineers, and new capabilities in complex electromechanical assemblies. That move isn’t just about capacity. It opens doors to high-reliability work like CERN’s radiation-resistant cabinets—systems built to run a hundred meters underground—where documentation rigor, materials science, and integration discipline decide who earns the purchase order. Along the way, we explore why mastering an SMT line means mastering the entire process, from forecasting and procurement to test coverage and change management.

Automotive headwinds still shape Europe, and we address them directly. With historically high exposure to auto, CMAC has trimmed that share while holding profitability, building momentum in aerospace, defense, and medical where traceability and compliance protect value. We dig into how Chinese EV momentum and the arrival of Chinese EMS providers in Europe shift the competitive map—and why diversification beats wishful thinking about a quick rebound. Finally, we talk strategy for 2026: integrate first, align culture and quality systems, then consider more M&A with a steadier base.

If you care about electronics manufacturing, supply chain resilience, and the real levers that drive sustainable growth, you’ll find practical insights and hard-won lessons here. Follow the show, share it with a colleague who lives in NPI or operations, and leave a quick review to tell us what you want explored 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.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Hello, I'm Philip Sturton. I'm a Productronica 2025. I'm on the Global Electronics Association booth and I'm joined by Rywan from CMAC. Always a pleasure to see you, always a pleasure to see you. Tell me a bit about how 25 is is ending out in terms of the market and a bit of an indication to your expectations for 26.

Celebrating The Hidden EMS Backbone

SPEAKER_01 0:29

So, you know, Philip, it's not the first time we are meeting, and I'm I'm going to answer your question. I don't want to ignore it, but I will start with a little uh a little other if that's okay with you. Um you know our industry electronic manufacturing is a little bit hidden. So we we we have no uh real brands, we don't manufacture our products usually, and sometimes we are squeezed between big suppliers and big customers, you know. But when you look at uh most of our companies, we are really uh mastering uh a lot of different technologies, you know. So we are we are doing really good stuff, extremely good stuff, and not only that, but we are doing it with uh limited resources. So uh due to our position, we have learned how to uh to do uh fantastic things with limited limited people. And what I wanted to say with all of that is that there are not many people uh helping us actually promoting our industry, and and you are one of those, and together with Eric and some other people, and for me that was maybe the time just to uh thank you for all of that. Wow, because not not many people are doing that, and we really need it. And I believe we are uh extremely good at what we are doing. So I think people like you.

Supply Chain And Process Mastery

SPEAKER_00 1:37

I think what you're doing, yeah. Okay, yeah, yeah. And and and I what I think is fascinating, I I I don't know any other industry that's mastered supply chain in the way you have. I don't know another industry that's mastered the automation of a single process like an SMT line in the way the EMS industry.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

And and you get it right, it's not only technology, but the entire uh uh let's say the entire process system. If we screw up in supply chain, we'll be uh we'll be dead by inventory or whatever. So we have to master all of it. Okay.

2025 Performance And Market Mix

SPEAKER_00 2:07

It's it's a complex, it's a complex task. Within that complex task, how has this year panned out?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

Um, well, so uh to to uh to go back to your um uh original question, uh 2025 was a little bit of a transition for us. Uh we did extremely well in 2023 and also 2024. And you were standard in 2024.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

That was a tough year for most of Europe.

SPEAKER_01 2:29

It was a tough year for most of the people and was like, what's happening to you guys? I'm I'm doing okay. Well, a little bit of um maybe uh showing too much there, but uh um 2025 started with an acquisition for us. So we uh we acquired uh um a medium-sized manufacturing company in Poland. Okay, uh it was um very good experience also for myself. That was my first time I was uh let's say on the front line uh for uh for an acquisition, so that was that was great. Um it went relatively well, and from that we are generating a lot of uh opportunities we're working on. Uh this said we are a little bit down in 2025. Uh our company is uh has been a lot of involved in automotive, about 60% of our uh revenue. That doesn't help actually to maintain a solid position, but uh even that I would say um we we are doing quite okay. Yeah, and so we still maintain quite a good level of uh I would say even profitability. Um and we have managed actually even to reduce our share of uh automotive, even if we were a little bit pushed by the market, yeah, and to increase some other uh um market segment like defense aerospace and medical, yeah, being two sectors by the way that we want to uh to have more presence.

SPEAKER_00 3:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:44

Um what what we see in general from the entire industry is that there is still a high tendency for a lot of projects to be delayed. Yeah, so like decisions are being taken, but with some with some delays, and of course, it's affecting our plans to uh let's say to uh to get back on the growth side. So yeah, so that's that's a little bit how things are shaping for us.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah, let's go back go back to the acquisition. When you look at an acquisition like the one you made, there's there's normally one of three reasons to do that. You're either looking for capability and capacity, which is just you know adding more people or adding maybe some more processes you don't have. Sometimes it's geography, so maybe it's yeah, having a an Eastern European um footprint, but other times it's acquiring different markets. So what was the motivation behind Poland?

New Capabilities: Complex Electromechanics

SPEAKER_01 4:33

All of them or I think you have all of them actually. So the I would say probably the the first matter was actually to uh uh to open a new geography. Um I think you've been in Poland a few times. Um Poland has the uh I would almost say luxury to still have decent uh manufacturing costs, but also uh you you can find a very uh a good pool of high-skilled people over there. And so that's really a very good match. And compared to other regions in Central Eastern Europe, uh that's I think that's really outstanding uh in um in Poland. So that's that was that uh geographical cosplay that came first. Um but also what we wanted to do, we we didn't look really for additional capacity, but more additional capabilities. Okay, and so um uh we are uh still a medium-sized company, so trying to uh to be present in kind of niche markets. And what we did in Poland was to open actually another or to enter another niche market um from a technology point of view, which is actually to master uh really complex um uh electromechanical assemblies. Okay. Um as uh as an example, maybe what I can name is that uh uh the the the CERN uh from from Geneva announced uh, I think it was three or four weeks ago, a partnership with us. Uh so we are actually uh going to start manufacturing, we are starting to manufacture uh for them some complex uh electromechanical cabinets. Yeah, and when I say complex, that's that's really complex stuff.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

That's an understatement, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:05

So uh this stuff will be 100 meters uh into the ground, will have to be uh resistant to radiation and stuff like that, on top of the complexity of the assembly, uh of the assembly itself. So it was it was at play uh in term of uh um in terms of capabilities and also entering, let's say, uh other markets. Yeah, and so uh yeah, uh it's not like we uh we want to exit uh the automotive market, we want to be present. Yeah, and we still believe we have a quite uh quite a good play to uh to maintain there, but uh diversification was also important for us.

Diversifying Beyond Automotive

SPEAKER_00 6:37

I think it's I think it's essential. I think um, you know, when you look at the the the kind of malaise I find the German market in a little bit at the moment, a lot of that is is related to the automotive market, and we're seeing a lot of things happening with the switch to EVs, that brings more pressure in. Yeah, China seems to have done a sterling job in winning a lot, winning a lot of that business. So it's hard to see how much of that automotive will come back to Europe, but I think there's there's value in having the right.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Yeah, I think there is value in there. Uh also um when you and I talked last year, I was quite optimistic that people would start to uh to buy cars again. Yeah, I think they will, but uh I'm I'm not sure how the uh uh Chinese uh let's say car manufacturer will will eat up um some of that potential growth in the future. Yeah, and that's probably going to be a challenge for us uh because you see um more and more uh even Chinese EMS trying to establish in in Europe. Yeah, and so uh we'll we'll see how it develops. We'll still have more chances.

Outlook And Integration Before More M&A

SPEAKER_00 7:39

But it's nice that you're in other you that you're in other markets. When you look at 2026, are you thinking about more inorganic growth? Are you thinking about acquisition as a strategy further down the line?

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, but we we we also have to be a little bit realistic, yeah, uh, which means in fact uh it it uh it still takes us quite some energy to uh finalize that acquisition in terms of the ramping up the business over there. Um so of course we'll be looking at uh uh let's say external growth. Yeah, I think that will be probably something that will um that I will have in mind maybe starting mid mid-2026.

SPEAKER_00 8:13

Get the integration under your belt first, do a good job there, exactly get the cultures matched up and then and then move on to the next thing. Exactly. Exciting times. We will definitely be talking in the early part of next year anyway. I'll see you at some of the uh Global Electronics Association events.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I think you will see me, and I think I will see you, so that will be great again.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

We'll we'll catch up then and we'll hear what's going on. Perfect. Thanks so many for your time. Appreciate the look.