Dr. Bill Cardoso, CEO, Creative Electron

Was your business able to recover fully or partially from the global pandemic during 2021? Do you still have employees working from home?

Our business has mostly recovered from the global pandemic, while we continue to practice flexible work arrangements to be most effective for the company and for our employees. We have also effectively deployed online tools and onsite visits for our customer activities, including customer meetings, visits and trade shows.

Has your company been affected by the inventory shortages of semiconductors and electronic components in 2021? Are you able to hire enough qualified employees?

We were affected by the supply chain constraints, but have been able to recover fairly quickly from these challenges.

We have been able to hire qualified talented employees in technical, business development and operations areas as our team continues to grow.

What are your expectations for the electronics assembly industry in 2022?

Certainly we expect the electronics industry to continue to grow in 2022. Quantum computing, autonomous driving, 5G wireless communication, smart manufacturing, AR/VR, artificial intelligence, are some of the market drivers that will drive the demand for materials and quality control in the manufacturing space.

Miniaturization will continue to drive higher functional density for electronics products, and the challenging assembly processes (such as fine pitch solder paste deposition) will require precise materials and process control for high yield and throughput for volume manufacturing. At the same time, the broader deployment and penetration of I4.0 initiatives across the industry will require data for the entire process and traceability (including materials data).

Have you or will you travel again to customer sites or industry conferences in 2022?

We have, and will continue to travel to customer sites and industry conferences in 2022, to share our exciting new developments with the industry and with our customers.