Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

JACKSON, MI – EMS provider Sparton Corp. reported first-quarter fiscal 2009 sales of $54 million, down 8.25% year-over-year.

Gross profit was $2.38 million, up 3.22% compared to the same period last year.

For the quarter, Sparton recorded an operating loss of $2.85 million, compared to an operating loss of $2.05 million last year.

The firm reported consistent sonobuoy drop tests and improved sales in the aerospace market.

"We are disappointed at the lower than expected sales. We are very pleased with the successful and consistent execution of the sonobuoy contracts this year, as well as the increase in the aerospace sales and favorable forecast for future sales in the medical market as well,” said Richard Langley, interim CEO and president.

In addition, with the closure of the Albuquerque facility, while a difficult decision to make, will have a positive impact going forward … Gross inventories have decreased approximately $3 million over the past three months and over $7 million since the spring of 2008, primarily the result of better inventory management."

TORONTO -- SMTC Corp. bucked an industry trend, reporting upticks in third-quarter net income ($100,000) and revenue ($60.1 million).

Sales were up 11.3%, while earnings showed a big bump from the year-ago net loss of $1.2 million. However, sales were down 9% sequentially.

HUDSON, MA -- A former Intel employee was charged yesterday with stealing trade secrets valued at more than $1 billion.

Biswamohan Pani is accused of allegedly downloading Intel trade secrets while working simultaneously for Advanced Micro Devices. He has been charged with a total of five counts of theft of trade secrets.

According to the indictment, Pani had taken a job with AMD while still in the employ of Intel, then while on vacation from Intel, allegedly downloaded at least eight documents described by Intel as “confidential,” “secret” or “top secret.”

The information Pani allegedly downloaded was worth $1 billion in research and development costs, according to the federal government.

AMD was unaware of Pani's alleged actions, according to the indictment.

Pani had worked at Intel's Hudson, MA, site before taking the job with AMD in Santa Clara, CA.

ITASCA, IL – ITW has filed its 10-Q quarterly report showing third quarter operating revenues in its Power Systems and Electronics unit grew $53.3 million year-over-year, or 9.4%, to $620.7 million. Year to date, the segment is up 9.7% through Sept. 30.

For the quarter, the operating margin was 19%, down 50 basis points from a year ago. However, base margins climbed 40 basis points during the quarter. Base manufacturing revenues grew 3.1% and operating income was up 5%. Acquisitions made up another 3.7%, while currency translation costs added 2.5%. Growth was spurred primarily by a 26.4% jump in ITW’s international welding business. The acquisition revenue was primarily due to the purchase of a PCB fabrication business and a welding accessories business, ITW said.

The business unit includes Speedline Technologies, Vitronics-Soltec and Kester Solder, among others.

LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES – Integrated Microelectronics Inc. will build biometric authentication cards for Validus Technologies Corp., the companies announced this week. The value of the manufacturing deal was not disclosed.

The Validus-designed VALIDcard is a type of powered card that comes fully self-contained within a card form factor. It has uses in e-commerce, online banking, health care, physical and logical access, and security.

IMI is a top 40 EMS manufacturer with annual revenues of about $400 million.

Validus, which owns powered card patents, “chose IMI as its manufacturing partner due to [its] excellence in engineering, global manufacturing operations and key patents relating to advanced electronics assembly,” said Travis McGregor, CEO of Validus.

Validus and IMI also are producing V2.0 Beta VALIDcards, to be released to beta customers within weeks.