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Rhode Island -- AIM has appointed Cluff and Associates as manufacturers' rep for the company's line of solders and related assembly materials in Colorado.

Cluff & Associates, headquartered in Denver, CO, specializes in sales, service and customer support for electronic production materials and equipment.

AIM is a global manufacturer of assembly materials for the electronics industry. The company produces solder paste, liquid flux, cored wire, bar solder, adhesives, preforms and specialty alloys such as indium and gold for the electronics assembly, PC fabrication, component manufacturing and other industries.

NEENAH, Wis., Sept. 22 -- Plexus Corp. will take up to $13 million in restructuring charges and close its Bothell, WA, plant, the company said today.

By the end of its fiscal 2005 second quarter, the company will lay off 160 workers and close 100,000 sq. ft. of capacity, Plexus said in a press statement.

The move is expected to generate $2 million in pretax savings per year.

The closure is not expected to impact fiscal 2004 fourth quarter revenue or EPS guidance (excluding restructuring charges and valuation allowance. Plexus updated its revenue guidance to be at the low end of its previously announced range of $270 million to $280 million.

The company will take charges over the next three quarters, $4 million to $5 million in the fourth quarter and $6 million to $8 million over the following two quarters.

Plexus also said start-up costs of its new Malaysian facility are higher than expected, due in part to a slower-than-expected rate of customer qualifications.

Carlsbad, CA, Sept. 10 -- Asymtek has added four teams of distributors to represent its line of automated fluid dispensing systems in China, the company said.

The firms will provide on-site equipment service, training, and applications support.

The firms are:

D-TEK, headquartered in Taiwan, has offices in Shanghai, Shenzhen, Suzhou and DongGuan, China.
Leeport is based in Hong Kong, with offices in Bejing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Chongqin, China. Other locations include Singapore, Taiwan, Macau and Malaysia.
Bejing-based ATS also has offices in Tianjin and Shanghai.
SSI Shanghai is a wholly owned subsidiary of SSI Taiwan, headquartered in Taipei. Other locations include Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hsinchu and Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

Asymtek is retaining an existing rep firm, Electronic Scientific Engineering.

St. Petersburg, FL, Sept. 21 -- Jabil Circuit posted better-than-expected net income of $44.3 million, up from $20.1 million last year.

For its fiscal fourth quarter ended Aug. 31, revenue climbed to $1.63 billion from $1.30 billion. Excluding one-time charges items, Jabil posted a profit of $54.7 million.

The company guided for 2005 revenue of $7.2 billion to $7.4 billion, $1.75 billion to $1.85 billion in the first quarter.

Jabil president Tim Main told analysts during a conference call yesterday that conditions in the industry were stable. "I would characterize the current environment as stable and steady. From my perspective, the prospects for our business and industry are as good as they've been at any time in the last four years,"

The company reported new program wins in consumer, instrumentation and medical, and peripheral applications. However, it said it saw weakness in communications.

Caskh from operations was nearly $100 million, and cash conversion cycle days remained at 26.

SAN JOSE, Sept. 20 -- Solectron Corp. expects to take fiscal fourth-quarter restructuring charges of up to $25 million due to shutdowns in the electronics manufacturer's operations in Europe and North America.

As part of the restructuring the company will also layoff 500 employees, the firm said in a Sept. 16 filing with the SEC.

Solectron also plans to take a $47 million restructuring charge due to the halting of production of various PC and computing products. According to a Deutsche Bank analyst, the move is "likely a result of a supply agreement being terminated with either HP or IBM (from a previous acquisition)."

Solectron also finalized the sale of its minority interest in ECS Holdings Ltd. for $16 million in cash. Solectron expects fiscal fourth-quarter losses of $6 million to $15 million related to the sale.