Our Story
For more than 75 years combined, Custer Consulting Group (Contexo Group) has helped leaders across the global electronics supply chain see around the corner and turn raw economic signals into clear, confident decisions.
Built on deep industry expertise
The firm was founded in 1999 by Walt Custer, a nearly five-decade veteran of the electronic materials industry. Walt spent his career at Thiokol, Dynachem, and Morton Electronic Materials (later acquired by Rohm and Haas / Dow Chemical), where he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing. That front-line experience gave him something rare: a working knowledge of both the science of electronic materials and the economic cycles that move them.
A unique forecasting framework
Walt’s mission was simple but ambitious: to levelize the electronic materials supply chain by making its cycles predictable. He pioneered a methodology that fuses primary industry data from printed circuit board and broader electronics markets with leading macroeconomic indicators such as purchasing managers’ indices, originally developed to predict how photoresist sales would be affected by business and economic cycles. Today, clients still rely on our market intelligence to anticipate shifts in demand months before they appear on a balance sheet.
Relationships that span the industry
Over decades, Walt cultivated trusted relationships across every tier of the ecosystem, including PCB manufacturers, EMS providers, materials suppliers, process equipment makers, and OEM leaders. Those connections remain one of the firm’s most valuable assets, giving clients a direct line to the people and intelligence that matter.
A legacy of service to the industry
Walt built CCG from the ground up 26 years ago, guided by his passion, hard work, and unwavering commitment to the printed circuit board community. His dedication did more than establish our company. It helped shape the industry itself. Drawing on his experience as a chemist and executive veteran, Walt became one of the most respected voices in electronics manufacturing: a sought-after analyst, a frequent keynote speaker, a longtime magazine columnist, a board and committee member, and a trusted data contributor to organizations across the sector. His contributions have been recognized with the industry’s highest honors, including the IPC President’s Award in 1990 and the Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award in 2001.
A second generation, a new dimension
In January 2000, Walt’s son Jonathan Custer joined the firm and extended its reach into real-time industry intelligence, launching three flagship daily news services: Electronics Manufacturing Daily News, Automotive Electronics Daily News, and Solar / Photovoltaic & Alternative Energy Supply Chain News. Together, Walt and Jonathan built a complementary practice, combining decades of historical expertise with continuous real-time information flow.
The value we deliver
Today, Custer Consulting Group, led by CEO Jonathan Custer, continues that mission: delivering timely, data-driven insights across the electronics, automotive, and energy supply chains. We help our clients make sharper strategic decisions, act on market shifts earlier than their competitors, and grow revenue with confidence.