Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

MACAO – EMS provider Nam Tai Electronics reported third-quarter sales fell 21.5% to $160 million, while gross profits and net earnings both dropped more than 60% year-over-year.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC will host a meeting with European automotive industry leaders, including Porsche, Volvo and Volkswagen, to investigate adding automotive-specific requirements for electronics used in cars, trucks and military vehicles to IPC-A-610D, Acceptability of Electronic Assemblies.

A kickoff meeting will be held Nov. 12 in Munich to select a committee. Technical professionals involved with quality, reliability, production and purchasing of electronic parts and assemblies for the automotive industry are invited.

“Ideally, we would like to publish an automotive addendum to IPC-A-610D within nine to 12 months,” said Lars Wallin, IPC European representative.

Jack Crawford, IPC director of certification and assembly technology, will moderate the meeting.

For more information and to register, contact Lars Wallin, LarsWallin@ipc.org.

SAN JOSE -- Worldwide sales of semiconductors rose 1.6% year-over-year to $23 billion in September, and 1.1% from August, the Semiconductor Industry Association said last night.

HERNDON, VA – Dr. Robert C. Pfahl Jr., vice president of global operations for iNEMI, received an Electronics Goes Green 2008+ award in Berlin last month.

Pfahl received the award “for his commitment to environmental protection and inspiring ideas concerning sustainable development in technology and business solutions.”

Prior to joining iNEMI in 2002, Pfahl was director of international and environmental research and development for Motorola Labs.

SECAUCUS, NJ --Starting Nov. 1, Panasonic Corp. of North America will launch a nationwide program designed to provide consumers convenient recycling of Panasonic brand TVs and other consumer electronics.

Under the program, consumers can drop off Panasonic products free of charge. Panasonic also will work jointly with public and private recyclers, communities, governments, charities and other organizations.

The venture will cover more than 160 recycling drop-off locations in 10 states, and is slated to expand to all 50 states, with hundreds more sites, over the next three years.

In a press statement, Recycling Group manager Richard Vernam, said, "The program will help to move end-of-life consumer electronics out of the common waste stream and into a separate and environmentally responsible recycling stream."

"The focus of Panasonic's new program will be on consumer convenience and environmentally sound recycling," said Yoshi Yamada, Chairman and CEO of Panasonic Corporation of North America. "The new national program both gives life to our customers' recycling expectations and embodies our company's commitment to responsible product lifecycle management."

The move might also signal a larger emphasis on designing products that are easy to break down and reuse.

SEOUL -- US-based private equity group Ripplewood has emerged as the preferred bidder to buy Daewoo Electronics, the company's leading creditor said yesterday.

A deal for the money-losing consumer electronics maker is hoped to be struck by year-end.

The bid price was not disclosed, but local reports pegged it in the range of $288 million to $324 million. If correct, that marks up to a 43% drop from a bid submitted last year by a group led by Videocon Industries, which creditors rejected as too low.

Creditors own 97.5% of Daewoo.