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Speaking of this Week — April 23, 2004
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca, Managing Editor, SMT
Speaking of this Week summarizes and analyzes events in the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
Like the daffodils springing to life in my yard, an air of change, possibility and hope is afoot. Nowhere is this more evident than in the crop of news this week, which reflects progress; agreements and acquisitions; and trade show, legislative, personnel and financial news. Onward:
- Progress: Griffin, Ga.-based NACOM Corp. was named "Large Manufacturer of the Year" by the state of Georgia, while Natick, Mass.-based MicroE Systems reportedly became the first encoder company to be certified to the ISO 9001:2000 standard. Regarding everyone's favorite subject, lead-free, San Francisco-based Design Chain Associates LLC announced a new service this week that will help electronic OEMs transition to component-level compliance with the environmental legislation. And Townshend, Vt.-based Janos Technology Inc. strutted its stuff at the recent Defense and Security Symposium, revealing an enterprise-wide makeover that includes a corporate vision entitled "The Power of Focus." Finally, on a down note, Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based AVX Corp. is working to exit the ferrite component market in Europe, closing a related factory in Beaune, France.
- In partnership and acquisition news, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies Inc. and Thief River Falls, Minn.-based Digi-Key Corp. forged a distribution agreement to allow Agilent's Semiconductor Products Group to make an array of Digi-Key products available to designers using Digi-Key distribution channels. Franklin, Mass.-based Speedline Technologies Inc. entered into an agreement with research powerhouse the Georgia Institute of Technology for licensing closed-loop printing technology, while Italian automotive production design company TESCO T.S. signed a contract for implementation of eMPower software from Herzlia, Israel-based Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. Finally, Stamford, Conn.-based FEINFOCUS agreed to be acquired by Switzerland-based COMET AG, and Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron Corp. completed its previously announced divestitures of SMART Modular Technologies Inc. and its Stream International call center business.
- In trade show news, Tecnomatix demonstrated its eMPower, Xfactory and FactoryLink product lines at Germany's Hannover Fair this week. Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries announced that its IPCWorks conference will return at the end of October in Minneapolis. Finally, the SMTA, which is based in Minneapolis, issued a call for participation for its 10th Annual Pan Pacific Microelectronics Symposium, taking place in sunny Hawaii next January.
- In legislative news, IPC announced its support for the recent California's Workers' Compensation Reform Bill, along with the California Circuits Association, and revealed that it would provide insurance for its more than 875 U.S.-based members through Sentry Insurance.
- Two personnel announcements: Grant Wilson joined EWI of Columbus, Ohio as medical/microelectronics market leader, while the Herndon, Va.-based NEMI announced Cookson Electronics Vice President of Technology Alan Rae was named its new director of research.
- Finally, in financial news, Torrance, Calif.-based Technical Devices Co. announced that bookings were up 80 percent year-over-year for the first quarter of 2004, while Solectron filed a shelf registration with the SEC for its convertible senior notes due 2034.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 81 percent of you say China is becoming more important to your company, while 13 percent are not involved in China and 6 percent said the Asian powerhouse has remained the same in importance.
Have some insight on the industry? See something you don't agree with? Think I'm right on? Send it all to me at christinef@pennwell.com.