Customer-Led Manufacturing Made Easy with Andreas Nordin, HANZA's COO

What if scaling production were as simple as one phone call? I sat down with Andres Nordin, HANZA's COO at their recent Capital Markets Day to unpack a customer-led operating model that turns complex supplier webs into a single, responsive partnership—and why the most valuable technology choices start with pain points, not buzzwords. From defining six core capabilities to exploring a seventh and eighth, we walk through how real quote requests shape investment in sub-technologies like specialized welding and assembly, keeping capital focused on outcomes customers actually want.

The conversation gets tactical on supply chain rewiring. Instead of managing forty suppliers to move capacity 20% up or down, the team shows how a unified partner compresses coordination, slashes indirect costs, and responds to volatility in both directions. We dig into a standout example with Mitsubishi forklifts: building out a facility, installing complex assembly, and standing up an operation designed around the customer’s exact needs. It’s solution design over commodity sourcing, with measurable gains in speed, quality, and resilience.

We also talk about integration after acquisition, especially as it relates to the recent acquisition of BMK in Germany. The approach is deliberately humble: listen first, learn what the acquired team does best, and bring those strengths into the broader system.

And on AI, we keep it real—use it where it removes a bottleneck, ignore the hype where it doesn’t. Throughout, the theme is constant motion: what works in 2026 will evolve by 2028 and 2031, so the edge comes from sensing change and building with customers, not ahead of them.

If you value practical strategy, fewer handoffs, and tech that actually serves the work, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share with a colleague who manages suppliers, and leave a review with the one change that would make your operations 10x easier.

This podcast is part of series filmed at HANZA's Capital Markets Day in Stockholm on March 10th 2026.

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

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 0:07

Andres, thanks for being here today. Thanks for talking to me. A really fascinating presentation. I was interested in what you said as COO. I was also really interested in what you said as CHRO on behalf of your colleague. The phase that we're moving into, Hansa 2028, feels like it's a little bit your phase. It's a technology phase, it's a capability phase. What do you think that means from an operational point of view from the business? What are the key drivers that you are working on for that for that three-year period? I know we're in the planning phase, but give me a little bit of a flavor.

Defining Core And Emerging Technologies

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 0:43

Yeah, we are uh exactly like I say. I mean, we are doing the technologies, and we have the six technologies today that we are, I think those we have seen that the customer is really good. They are saying these are the technologies, and we want to combine this. But we also see that there might be something else. In our quotes that we are doing, they ask about some other things. Okay, you might be able to do this, you might be able to do that as well. So we are doing that analysis, and uh we are in that analysis phase, so it's a bit hard to say how we're going to move on. But we can add another, so we have the six technologies or capabilities. We could also add a seventh or an eighth, yeah, main technology, but also then move into the sub-technologies underneath to see if we're going to add some different types of weldings and different types of uh of yeah, whatever we can need to do with that the layer below the six technologies.

Customer Voice Over Hype

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 1:34

Yeah, I think what's exciting is your your strategy is very much customer-led. Listen to the voice of the customer. What are they what do they need you to do to provide them an even more sophisticated, even even better service? Have has have the questions they've been asking you started to change? Have they asked more questions about the application of AI, for example? It feels like it's a bit of a buzzword, but there are definitely opportunities there.

Rewiring Supply Chains At Scale

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 1:58

Yeah, they are, and I think that's not maybe that much around the AI. They are more into the still on the technologies and what can we do and what can we provide? And we are also talking to them about the, like I talked about today, the rewiring of the supply chains. Yeah. So how can we do uh help them with their pain points they have in their supply chain today? We saw the case that about the Mesubishi, how they had many suppliers turned into one supplier. So what do they do if they have an increase of uh volume? One phone call, Hansa, 20% up, can you do it? Yeah, of course we can. Yes. Before they had to do 40 phone calls.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 2:35

Yeah. Well, and potentially scale internal resources.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 2:38

And then coordinate, and then you need to coordinate those as well. So I mean, this is good you go from upwards, one phone call, 20% up. Can you do that? Yeah, we can do it, we deliver. Sorry, we are 20% down. Please work out that adjust, we do it.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 2:50

Then we do it.

Integrating BMC With Humility

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 2:50

It's so much easier. So that is also for the customer to think about that it's not just the product itself, but you also have a lot of indirect cost that he will able to take out by um going to us for this complete outsourcing.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 3:03

Yeah, you've been through an exciting um balancing of the business, which included quite a substantial acquisition trial. That means you you get the benefit of listening to the voice of all those experienced manufacturers, so you potentially have some best practices you can learn from there. That's an exciting part, but there are also challenges of integration where you have to bring people together, you have to bring plant together, you have to bring culture together. Tell me a little bit about how you're tackling that and how important a part of 2026 that integration, particularly of the larger acquisition of BMC, is within this year.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 3:39

Yeah, I would say, like I said in one of the questions here I got, and I think the thing is to be humble. Stay humble, listen, and don't impose what we are doing and presume that what we are doing is the best. There is, of course, a HANSA culture, a HANSA ways of doing the things. We are one company, we are HANSA. But that doesn't mean that we are saying that it must must be exactly like that. We need to listen. And if there are something that is good, like they are they said in BMC, for instance, the uh the quality, the PPM, of course we should learn from them. How do they work? Yeah, what do they do? Study the process, go there, go to Gamba, check what they are doing, invite them as well. Because they can come and they can also say, okay, you can change this and that. Of course, when they see that in our in our product. So I think stay humble, work closely, and allow um like you have to talk to each other.

Tailored Solutions That Start With Need

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 4:30

Yeah, and Andres, every day is a school day, isn't it? Last question I wanted to ask you is within your within your presentation, you mentioned being open to tailored solutions. I really like that comment because it feels that you have to be someone that doesn't just provide capability, but someone that actually provides solutions to what customers need. Is Mitsubishi the perfect with the Folklifts? Is that the perfect example of that? And how do you see that as something that you can really leverage in the future?

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 4:59

Yeah, I would say that it is like that. And the the thing is, everything we do is for the customer. And if the customer is asking for something and and it needs to be good for us as well, then of course we're going to do it. But we are not going to develop something and let's go out and see if the customer wants it. We're starting from a customer need. Everything originates from a customer need, and from that then we are building our um solution. Yeah. And that can be, as I said, we can build a factory, we can set up a for Mitsubishi. We rented a new facility, we put in the assembly, and and then we're up and run and running for them. So that is the thing that we are listening to what they want, looking into if that is something that is also good for our company. Yeah, and then together we do it. Important is it needs to be good for both parties.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 5:44

Yeah. Yeah.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 5:45

But everything starts with the customer. It's not that we start and to say that customer, we have something, we come and buy it. No. What you want, we have it. Let's see how we can do it together.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 5:54

Yeah, and it's a lovely openness, it's a fierce collaboration, but it means that you're not close to new ideas. And those new ideas might be something that suit one customer, they may end up being something that suit a hundred customers, and that's where it gets really exciting.

Adapting To A Fast-Changing Market

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 6:07

Yeah, and then you have also the customers like back to the technologies, and that also goes. We are changing. We are, I mean, now we are in 2026, and the the world is different, 2028 and 2031, and so on.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 6:18

Yeah.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 6:19

So what we have now is definitely going to change.

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 6:22

Yeah.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 6:22

And we need this is also a constant move, even though we have the focus this year on technologies. But it will be a constant move when as we move on, because the world is changing as well.

Closing Thanks

Philip Stoten, Journalist and Podcaster 6:32

It's a rapidly evolving market out there, isn't it? Andrés, thanks so much for your time. A pleasure to chat, and thank you for today.

Andreas Nodin, Chief Operating Officer, HANZA 6:38

Thank you for coming.