A bustling Global Electronics Association booth at Productronica sets the stage for a candid conversation with Chief Global Officer Sanjay Huprikar about what real global collaboration looks like when it’s working. We trace a clear arc: India’s surge through training and engagement, China’s evolution from certification powerhouse to standards initiator, and Europe’s EMS leaders discovering that a neutral room can turn competitors into co-problem-solvers. The throughline is practical and powerful—let standards start where they must, invite the world to shape them, and keep the craft alive through hands-on training that elevates the entire workforce.
We unpack how “think global, act local” moves from slogan to system. A standard might begin in China on rail, draw in Europe’s deep expertise, and then expand through India and North America as shared challenges surface. In Paris, that same spirit created a safe space where CEOs left posturing at the door and focused on the 80 percent of challenges that every EMS provider faces—talent pipelines, digital maturity, supply risk, and operational resilience—while keeping the secret sauce out of the conversation. The result is faster learning, better standards, and teams who can actually apply them.
Beyond the boardroom, we celebrate the human side of excellence. Training programs, hand soldering and wire harnessing competitions, and ongoing education translate standards into muscle memory. Advocacy and industry insight add lift, connecting policy signals to factory floors. The rebrand to Global Electronics Association formalizes a decade of practice: each region can lead, and everyone contributes to a stronger, shared framework. If you care about workforce development, open collaboration, and standards that reflect real work, you’ll find a playbook here worth adopting.
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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.