Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

ANGELTON, TX – Benchmark Electronics president Gayla Delly told analysts the telecom, industrial controls and medical sectors are bright spots for the EMS company, but a customer shift to lower-priced computers is hurting revenues.

For the June quarter, Benchmark saw sequential strength in industrial controls (up 13%), medical (up 7%) and telecommunications (up 4%). Computing fell 6% – out of step with typical seasonality – and test and instrumentation slid 12%.

INGOLSTADT, GERMANY – Zestron this year will open a 30,500 sq. ft. facility in Ingolstadt, about 62 miles north of Munich. The new European headquarters will include a state-of-the-art, 9,000 sq. ft. analytical and technical center, the largest in Europe, the company said.

The company has also hired an unspecified number of process engineers. The facility is scheduled for completion by the end of 2008.

Last year, Zestron America moved to new headquarters in the US and the company expanded its facility in China.

PENANG, MALAYSIA – Escatec has opened an additional 8,125 sq. ft. facility in Penang, its fourth on the EMS company’s campus.

The new building has 3,250 sq. ft. of production space, in which the company is housing two SMT lines. The facility also has 4,875 sq. ft. of storage, office and R&D space.

The new plant is set up for low-to-medium volumes, box builds and potential transfers from Escatec Switzerland.

By year-end Escatec expects to have approximately 200 employees in the facility.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – More than 40% of manufacturing and purchasing personnel have no understanding of the REACH regulation as it affects their companies, according to a recent IPC survey. The same holds true for nearly one-third of senior management, 29% of engineering personnel, and 28% of environment, health and safety personnel, says the association.

The survey, sent to executives in North America and Europe, reveals that even with a deadline for pre-registration of substances quickly approaching, only 18.3% of companies have identified and/or inventoried all substances in their products. In addition, only 60.5% of chemical supplier respondents are planning to register or pre-register substances at all.

The EU legislation concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals took effect June 1, 2007. REACH covers substances in nearly all applications, totaling about 30,000 unique chemicals. The legislation makes bidirectional communication throughout the supply chain imperative.

IPC has scheduled a Sept. 18 Webcast on pre-registration issues for PCB and EMS suppliers.

CARLSBAD, CA – Palomar Technologies’ management has bought out the original investor group that spun the company out of Hughes Aircraft in 1995.

Local management, with Palomar for many years, now owns the provider of precision automation equipment and contract assembly services for microelectronics.

No financial terms were disclosed.

“All of our current operations, products, and services will continue unchanged,” said Bruce Hueners, Palomar Technologies president and CEO.

NEWARK, NY – EMS provider IEC Electronics Corp. reported third-quarter revenue of $11.9 million, up about 5.9% year-over-year. Net profit for the quarter was $868,000, up 36.3% compared to the same period last year.

IEC had revenue of $35 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2008, up 10.6% year-over-year. Net profit for the period was $1.96 million, up slightly more than 70% compared to the same period in 2007.

W. Barry Gilbert, chairman of the board and CEO, stated, “We completed the acquisition of Val-u-Tech, refinanced the company with M&T bank, added two new customers, settled our long-standing lawsuit with GE, and improved our operating profit margins…

We expect our consolidated sales will increase for next quarter to between $14.5 million to $15.5 million…”