Bree Oldham, President and CEO, Electronic Design & Manufacturing

Despite slowdowns in business during 2023, Heller managed to gain traction in the market, in part due to new technology buys at Tier 1 customers for automotive and power electronics applications.

Winning products included our new High-UPH (units per hour) Vacuum and Formic Reflow ovens that deliver high yields and low void rates at industry-leading cost of ownership.

For 2024, barring macroeconomic disruptions Heller anticipates a rebound in both the SMT and Semicon segments by mid-year as supply chain inventories normalize and our customers' line utilizations improve.

We are seeing increased customer requests for custom curing and sintering solutions driven by production ramps of SiC technology for automotive and power electronics. As for advanced packaging, we expect acceleration in the second half.

Regionally, Heller has been experiencing strong demand growth in North America, Europe and India as major EMS and automotive customers diversify their supply chains and investments are spurred by government incentives such as the US CHIPS Act.

In 2024, Heller will continue to position itself to capitalize on these trends through collaborations with key customers and targeted investments in local service and engineering, demo equipment and production facilities.