Jesper Lykke, CEO, Viscom Inc.

Considering the price fluctuations in commodity, utility and shipping prices the Balver Zinn/Cobar group of companies have had a successful growth year and we anticipate this continuing into 2024.

Productronica 2023 was a great platform to promote our new eco-friendly products and we found this to be the busiest show in years for our new products, which hopefully means the industry is now recovering from the COVID storm.

Our JEAN 151 solder paste and REGI Blue fluxes are making huge advances into the industry, with JEAN 151 solder paste being accepted as a bench mark for industry standards. This flux type is unique in being used commonly with different alloys and particle types up to T5.

Our R&D team based in Balve, Germany continue to develop a range of new products, which will be launched in 2024.

Our USA division continues to grow positively and now manufactures 90% of all Balver Zinn products out of Mexico.

We are hoping to see some long term stability in commodity pricing, however the markets are still showing signs of unpredictability from time to time.

Qualified employees are becoming a real issue in Holland, Germany and the USA, causing some short term issues, it would be nice if local authorities would work in co-operation with local colleges and Universities to increase the pool of talent available.