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Speaking of this Week — September 12, 2003
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on events in the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
Wow! Progress news, including expansion, investments and milestones, completely dominates the news this week. Of course, we've also got alliances, personnel and financial news, as well as an industry metric. Read on:
- Progress, in all its forms: Flemington, N.J.-based DEK will be showcasing several new products at Productronica, which takes place in Germany in mid-November. In expansion news, Maple Grove, Minn.-based Circuit Check Inc. established its first regional support center in Southeast Asia, while elsewhere in the region, 14 of the top Chinese universities have adopted Austin, Texas-based National Instruments' LabVIEW graphical development software and NI data acquisition hardware. In Dongguan, China, Deswell Industries Inc. has expanded its plastic injection molding operation to meet customer order requirements. Meanwhile, Newburyport, Mass.-based Electronic Products Inc. (EPI) has updated its Web site. In news from Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries, the trade organization's Designer's Council announced this week that it has granted more than 2,000 PCB designers Certified Interconnect Designer (CID) designation through its PCB Designer Certification Program. IPC also released a new surface mount solder joint evaluation training DVD. Wilsonville, Ore.-based Mentor Graphics Corp. announced design-for-test (DFT) support for the AMD Opteron processor and AMD64 architecture. Finally, Fort Myers, Fla.-based Fox Electronics achieved ISO 9001:2000 certification, while Livermore, Calif.-based Adept Technology Inc. launched a 15 percent price reduction on select SmartModules and a 10 percent price reduction on SmartModules controllers.
- Alliances and mergers: Wilmington, Mass.-basedGSI Lumonics Inc. formed a distribution agreement with UK-based Alliance Sales (Europe) for its laser-based trim and inspection products, while Portsmouth, R.I.-based International Manufacturing Services Inc. appointed Germany-based TACTRON Electronik to represent its product line in Germany. Mesa, Ariz.-based Duraswitch and Three-Five Systems (TFS) have teamed up to showcase their products on the Domestic Appliance European Tour 2003, taking place during September. Finally, in merger news, Orlando, Fla.-based Sypris Test and Measurement Inc., a subsidiary of Sypris Solutions Inc., bought Elk Grove Village, Ill.-based Instrument Repair Service Inc.'s Illinois Calibration Business, while Santa Ana, Calif.-based Christopher Group Inc. bought all assets and intellectual property of Dallas-based EPC Corp.
- Some personnel news: The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Electronic Materials business of Honeywell International Inc. appointed a new chief technology officer, Saket Chadda, Ph.D., while Denver-based QualMark Corp. has a new vice president of sales and marketing in Alan Perkins. Finally, Lake Success, N.Y.-based Park Electrochemical Corp. elected Steven P. Schaefer as senior vice president, technology.
- In financial news, Forest Grove, Ore.-based Merix Corp. announced its preliminary results for the first quarter of fiscal 2004, ended August 30, which reflect a 36 percent gain in sales year-over-year and a pro-forma loss of 9 to 10 cents per share, compared to 25 cents per share in the comparable year-ago period.
- Finally, an industry metric: The Arlington, Va.-based Electronic Components, Assemblies and Materials Association (ECA) says that electronic component orders looked up in August, while the 12-month moving average of the index remains flat.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 80 percent of you use no-clean technology, while 20 percent of you do not.
Have some insight on the industry? See something you don't agree with? Think I'm right on? Send it all to me at mailto:christinef@pennwell.com.