Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

NUREMBERG and ARLINGTON, VA – Consumer electronics revenues in China are forecast to reach $100 billion by 2009, surpassing Western Europe and North America between 2009 and 2010, say market researcher GfK and the Consumer Electronics Association.

LONDON — The Cookson Group's first-half profits rose 30% to $225 million on a 26% jump in revenues to $2.1 billion.

The electronics group reported profits of $60 million, up 2%, year-over-year on an 11% hike in sales to $640 million. However, the higher revenue was driven by extreme price inflation for tin and silver used in solder. Excluding the inflation impact and sales of precious metals related products in the chemistry product line, underlying revenue fell 1% from last year.

All figures are based on constant exchange rates.

Cookson attributed the drop in revenue to a slowdown in electronics equipment production, particularly in the US, and a decision to focus on higher margin, more value-added product lines.

The company benefited from a new factory in Monterrey, Mexico, and demand for its scrap solder recycling operation in the US. A second recycling plant, in Guangxi Province, China, is expected to come online later this year. Cookson is also moving its European solder paste production from Ashford, England, to Hungary; the transfer should be complete by early next year and will save the company about $2 million annually.

BERWYN, PA – Tyco Electronics Ltd. is eliminating about 100 North American jobs, about half from two Pennsylvania facilities.

The firm cites diminished demand from the automotive and consumer appliance industries.

Workers from facilities in North Carolina, Michigan, Mexico and Canada also will be affected, said Tyco spokesman Mike Ratcliff, according to published reports.

The company plans to move some manufacturing from Harrisburg, PA to nearby Waynesboro, as well as Mount Sidney, VA.

The firm employs 92,000 globally and makes electrical components and telecommunications equipment.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC will hold a conference on November 6 at the Wyndham Hotel DFW, Irving, TX, to discuss the details of the IPC-9592 power conversion standard: Requirements for Power Conversion Devices for the Computer and Telecommunications Industries.

The meeting will outline the process and input that went into developing this first-ever power conversion standard, which is in its final stages. The conference agenda will cover power conversion product attributes, including product specifications and document requirements; design for reliability; design and qualification testing, and manufacturing conformance testing.

The committee members for the standard will present the sessions. These volunteer members – representing Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco Systems, Dell Inc., Emerson Network Power, Hewlett-Packard Co., IBM, Lineage Power and Murata Power Solutions – will describe the logic used to craft each chapter.

For more information, visit www.ipc.org/9592conference.

YAVNE, ISRAEL – Orbotech Ltd., maker of AOI equipment, said net income for the second quarter rose to $5.3 million, compared with a loss of $3.4 million in the same quarter last year.

The company attributes its swing to a profit to improved flat panel equipment sales.

Revenue was $105.1 million, up 15.7% year-over-year, Orbotech said.

Sales of flat panel display inspection equipment nearly tripled to $29.8 million, while revenue from PCB equipment fell 22.3% to $34.5 million.

HORSHAM, PA – Aegis Software Corp., developer of MOS software, appointed Brian Worrall as director of system integration and customization services.

Worrall will ensure deployments are integrated into customers’ existing software systems and will analyze customer requirements associated with integrating process planning and launch and MOS software into existing enterprise-level capabilities.

Worrall brings nearly 20 years’ experience to the position. Prior to this appointment, he was business systems analyst and programmer for Fiber-Line Inc.