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Speaking of this Week -- November 8, 2002
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
Some major alliances and acquisitions came to be this week, which should mean some developments in the electronics assembly industry down the road. Progress keeps happening as well, with several big awards handed out this week. We've also got financial, trade show and personnel news. Read on:
- Franklin, Mass.-based Cookson Electronics Equipment entered into a service and support agreement with Portland, England-based SigmaPrint Technologies for the European market, which covers all the platforms Cookson acquired from SMTech Ltd. in 1998. SigmaPrint will support Cookson's MPM Ultraprint 400 and Ultraprint 90 stencil printers in Europe, as well as SMTech Sigmaprint 500, Sigmaprint 400, Sigmaprint 100 and Benchmark 90 stencil printing systems. Similarly, Trevose, Pa.-based Datacon North America Inc., a member of the Datacon Technology Group, is working to expand its sales and support efforts in North America through agreements with four new manufacturers representatives. In the red-hot defense realm, Bellevue, Wash.-based Esterline Technologies will produce master vehicle blackout switches for one of the largest suppliers of weapons parts to the U.S. military, the Defense Supply Center Columbus, in a 12-month, $10.9 million contract. Over at Nashua, N.H.-based Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd., two new alliances came to fruition this week: a US $720,000 follow-on order for Manufacturing Process Management (MPM) products from France-based Schneider Electric, and a broadened relationship with UK-based TWR, which will expand its use of eMPower MPM products to support its manufacturing process lifecycle, from process planning through detailed design to execution. Finally, in acquisition news, Endicott, N.Y.-based Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. completed its buy of IBM's Endicott facility and the Microelectronic manufacturing operations located there for $65 million.
- Lots o' progress, especially on the awards front: SMT Editorial Advisory Board member and long-tenured columnist Jennie S. Hwang, Ph.D. was inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in October, joining such famous names as first woman doctor Elizabeth Blackwell and Nobel prize-winning author Toni Morrison. In other award news, Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC -- Association Connecting Electronics Industries(r) received a $400,000 financial assistance award from the Bush administration, accepted by IPC President Denny McGuirk, to encourage the trade association's work in export promotion. IPC also made the news this week with its announcement that more than 4,200 downloadable images; more than 1,000 IPC standards, publications and training sources; and more than 440 technical papers are now available to both members and non-members in its Online Store. Finally, in expansion news, Newark Electronics opened its first local, Mexico-dedicated warehouse in Tlajomulco de Zuniga, Jalisco.
- As usual, a mixed bag of financial results for the quarter ended in September: San Jose, Calif.-based Sanmina-SCI Corp. reported that its fourth quarter ended September 28 saw pro forma revenues of $2.6 million, compared to pro forma revenues (giving effect to the combination of Sanmina and SCI Systems) of $2.36 million in the comparable year-ago period. At the same time, pro forma net income for the fourth quarter was $3.2 million, compared to $21.8 million in the fourth quarter last year. Montreal-based Coreco Inc.'s revenues for its third quarter, ended September 30, were US $4.7 million, consistent with revenues for the first two quarters of the fiscal year but a 22 percent decrease year-over-year from US $6 million. Finally, Rochester, N.Y.-based PEMSTAR Inc. reported net sales for its fiscal 2003 second quarter, ended September 30, of $176.4 million, slightly elevated from $173.4 million in the prior year period. But net loss was $10 million, translating into 27 cents per diluted share, compared to net income of $3 million, or 8 cents per diluted share, for last year's fiscal second quarter. We're coming out of the downturn, but it's still a long, hard climb to go.
- Some tradeshow news: Jeff D. Montgomery, founder and chairman of San Mateo, Calif.-based ElectroniCast Corp., will be featured at ElectroniCast's Fourth Annual OADM and Advance Photonic Communication Networks Conference taking place next Tuesday and Wednesday. Also next week will be electronica 2002, taking place Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Munich, Germany. Phoenix-based Duraswitch announced that two of its licensees, Lucerne, Switzerland-based Schurter GmbH and Germany-based Demmel AG, will be showcasing various Duraswitch switching technologies at the show. Finally, further down the road, Messe Muenchen GmbH has reached an agreement to produce electronicaUSA with the Embedded Systems Conference San Francisco at the Moscone Convention Center from March 29 through April 2, 2004.
- Finally, some personnel news: San Jose, Calif.-based Photon Dynamics Inc. appointed Troy Johnson as director of North American sales and support, while West Haven, Conn.-based Enthone Inc., a Cookson Electronics PWB Materials & Chemistry Business, has a new senior scientist in Chonglun Fan, Ph.D. and a new president of finance in Thomas Smith.
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.