SIEVI, FINLAND -- Scanfil PLC, the second largest EMS group in the Nordic region, today announced manufacturing operations at its Oulu
plant will end this summer while those at its Äänekoski plant will be transferred to other
units by end of September. A total of 95 workers will be laid off.
Scanfil's EMS operations had 2006 sales of about 240 million euros.
BALVE, GERMANY – Solder material suppliers Balver Zinn and Cobar Group have signed an agreement to merge, a deal that would result in annual company sales of over $50 million. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter. No financial terms were disclosed.
ATLANTA – UP Media Group Inc.has extended the Call for Abstracts deadline for PCB Design Conference East 2007 to April 17. The annual conference and exhibition will be held on October 21-26, 2007, just outside Research Triangle Park, NC.
PCB East is the premier, annual East Coast conference and exhibition for emerging technologies used in the design and manufacture of PCBs, PLDs, MCMs, HDI, flexible circuits and related technologies. This event is sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufactureand Circuits Assembly.
The five-day conference focuses on printed circuit board design, engineering and manufacturing. It is comprised of a three-day Technical Conference and a Professional Development Certificate program of one-day and two-day courses.
PCB East 2007 also includes a two-day exhibition (Oct. 23-24) of top industry vendors of products and services for electronic design automation (EDA), engineering/design services, prototyping, fabrication, assembly, etc.
Papers and presentations of the following durations are sought for the Technical Conference: 30-minute paper sessions, one-hour lectures or panel sessions, two-hour workshops, and half-day (3.5 hour) seminars. Papers and presentations also are sought for a Professional Development Certificate program of in-depth, one-day and two-day technical tutorials.
For consideration, e-mail your course title(s), suggested course length(s), 100- to 300-word course abstract(s), "who should attend" recommendation(s), and speaker bio(s) to Conference Co-Chair Kathy Nargi-Toth (knargitoth at upmediagroup.com) and Show Manager Alyson Skarbek (askarbek at upmediagroup.com) by April 17.
Papers and presentations must be noncommercial in nature and should focus on technology, techniques or methodology rather than on a company’s specific products.
Suggested paper and presentation topics include (but are not limited to):
- High speed, high frequency and signal integrity
- Component placement
- EMI/EMC analysis
- Thermal analysis
- Lead-free processes (especially how they affect design and fabrication)
- RF and microwave design
- Packaging design
- Mixed-signal design
- Area arrays
- FPGA design and implementation
- Embedded passives and active devices
- Flexible circuitry
- HDI design and technologies
- PCB design/layout basics
- Component library creation and management
- Design for manufacture, test and assembly
- Design (including analog, digital and power supplies)
- PCB fabrication
- Soldering
- Surface finishes
- Industry forecasts
- Business and design/supply chain issues
Selected papers and presentations will be due in August for inclusion in the proceedings. All Technical Conference papers and presentations are published in the conference proceedings and distributed to conference attendees, exhibitors and speakers. (Submissions selected for the Professional Development Certificate program are not included in the proceedings.)
Each speaker/presenter will receive a copy of the technical conference proceedings CD-ROM, a complimentary pass for the three-day technical conference, and complimentary admission to the two-day exhibition, and other special events.
TORONTO
– Electronics manufacturing services provider SMTC Corp. announced fourth
quarter earnings rose 49% to $2.1 million on a 31% spike in revenue to $76.1
million.
For the quarter ended Dec. 31, gross profit was $7.7
million, or 10.1% of revenue, up from $4.9 million (8.4% of revenue).
Full-year revenue rose 15% to $262.8 million, while the
company set a net income record of $10.5 million, including one-time items of
$5 million, compared with a loss of $100,000 for 2005.
“For the first time since 2000, the company grew year-over-year
revenue, reflecting a combination of growth from long-standing customers and
the effect of new customer additions in 2005 and 2006,” said John Caldwell, president
and chief executive. "As important, SMTC produced seven consecutive quarters
of profitability culminating in record net income for 2006."
The full year net income included an income tax refund, gain
on a sale of surplus real estate, final proceeds from operations discontinued
in 2002 and a net adjustment to restructuring accruals.
SAN JOSE – North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted
$1.65 billion in orders in February, the trade group SEMI said. The three-month average orders fell 1% from January, but were up 28% year-over-year.
The February book-to-bill ratio was 1.05, meaning that $105 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product
billed for the month. It was the fifth straight month the ratio rose.
ESPOO, FINLAND – PCB maker Aspocomp Group will buy the minority stake in its ACP Electronics Ltd. joint venture from Taiwanese partner Chin-Poon Holdings,
the company said today.
Aspocomp
will spend 37.8 million euros to purchase the 49% minority interest in the Suzhou, China-based company.
The deal is expected to be finalized in March.
Aspocomp
Group Oyj owns 51% of ACP Electronics, and the JV’s net sales and results have
been consolidated into Aspocomp's figures since 2001.
Aspocomp
expects the acquisition will be accretive to the company’s result. Last year, Aspocomp
reported net sales of 149 million euros. It was the 57th largest PCB fabricator in 2005, according to Dr. Hayao Nakahara of NT Information.
