SMT Equipment
World’s Most Productive Companies
SMT Equipment
SMT (Surface Mount Technology) Equipment companies make the machines that place and solder components onto circuit boards. Productivity is highly cyclical, tracking electronics manufacturing investment, semiconductor and device demand, and equipment order cycles. The group sits at the bottom of Industrial Equipment after a sharp electronics-equipment downturn.
The group was about flat in 2025, sitting about 24% below its 2019 baseline. No company in the group reached the 2026 World’s Most Productive Companies list this year. Gains were concentrated in the leaders, with most of the group giving back ground.

Productivity Snapshot
- SMT Equipment ranks twenty-first of twenty-one Industrial Equipment peer groups in 2025, at an Industrial Productivity Index of 0.76, about 24% below its 2019 baseline.
- 1 of 4 companies grew productivity in 2025.
- No company in the group earned a place on the 2026 World’s Most Productive Companies list this year.
- The group remains well below its 2019 baseline, reflecting a deep, ongoing correction in electronics-equipment spending.
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