Joel Scutchfield, General Manager, Koh Young America

Addressing continued supply chain diversification and anticipating shifting regional manufacturing centers due to geopolitical pressures, ECD's 2025 strategy to prepare for nearshoring was mostly successful. While some regions did not reach projected volumes, we achieved outstanding growth in the US, and our business is posting robust gains in North America and other regions.

This business expansion is being fueled by a variety of end markets. The automotive sector, rebounding from losses due to a decline in electric vehicle adoption, is driving innovation in connectivity, autonomous capabilities, and passenger safety—factors intensifying electronics requirements. Other electronics market growth for ECD will come from data center expansion and mil/aero production.

Across all market sectors, ECD's success in recent years has been driven by the adoption of our M.O.L.E.® EV series touchscreen profilers, as users value the interactive display and the platform's versatility with all soldering equipment. Our pallets and barriers address wave, reflow, selective, and vapor phase processes, providing a standardized software and hardware solution.

And in the coming year, we will continue adding functionality for targeted process measurements. On the storage side, SmartDRY remains the leading, user-friendly choice for J-STD MSD compliance among mil/aero customers.

Looking ahead to 2026, ECD is poised for another year of strong growth, with a firm target to surpass average electronics market growth by 2 to 3 points.