“Everyone likes to feel that they are appreciated or that what they do is important,” said UPMG president Pete Waddell. “For over 20 years, a large part of our focus has been on PCB designers. Many people think that designers are under-appreciated and under-recognized. Whether that is true or not, we recognize that design is the foundation on which all electronics products are built. We also believe that PCB designers of the world should receive the credit they deserve.”
The Website (yearofthedesigner.com) will include:
· Interviews with designers in as many geographical areas as possible
· Spotlights on current designs
· Guest editorials by designers
· “Deep Thoughts” on what designers like about designing boards and more
· A Favorite Design Tool section
· “Where Are You?” for designers looking for designers they’ve lost contact with
· “The Rant” on issues plaguing designers at the moment
· Articles about designs and design experiences from Hades
· A designer blog
· “This Old Design” where experts provide answers to difficult questions
· “What I’m Reading Now” to prove life exists outside of design
· Calendar of design-oriented events and educational opportunities
· Fun stuff like timelines, trivia and more.
UPMG also plans to celebrate the Year of the Designer with a free Webinar, date TBA, and at special events held during the company’s 2006 conferences. These include: PCB Design Conference West in March in Santa Clara, and PCB Design Conference East in September in Durham, NC.
Interested in sponsoring Year of the Designer events? Contact Kamden Robb, krobb@upmediagroup.com.
KAUPPALEHTI, FINLAND -- PKC Group, a Finnish ODM and EMS firm, reported operating profits were up 20% to 5.4 million euros on an 8% hike in net sales, to 43.6 million euros, for the September quarter. By business unit, sales of wiring harness rose 11.4% to 33.8 million euros, while electronics fell 2% to 9.9 million euros. The company just finished expanding in Russia and will build a factory in China next year.
For the period ended Sept. 30, the world's largest EMS company took after-tax charges of $103.8 million. Excluding items, net income rose 3% to $101.3 million.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – The September 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 5.3% year-on-year, and bookings rose 36.7%, according to the latest poll of North American PCB fabricators.
A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, 29% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.
The domestic book-to-bill ratio rose to 1.18. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.
The ratio for rigid PCBs was rose to 1.07, while that of flexible circuits rose to 1.52.
“PCB sales were up in September, following the typical seasonal pattern,” said IPC in a statement. “Compared to last year, rigid PCB sales are staying flat and flexible circuits are continuing their strong growth trend. September bookings numbers are way up in both segments of the industry, which is an encouraging sign for fourth-quarter business.”
Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up more than 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 0.5% in September vs. a year ago. Bookings rose 20.2% during the month.
Flex sales rose 28% and bookings jumped 81.4%. Value-added services made up 83% of the shipment value of flex circuits.
Year-to-date, rigid shipments are down 4.7% and bookings are off 1.2%. Flex bookings are up 28.7% and shipments are up 27.4%. Shipments of all boards are up 1.2% and bookings are up 5.9%.
Sequentially, combined shipments were up 9.4% over June, while bookings were up 32.4%. Rigid shipments were up 11.1% and bookings were up 14.9%. Flex shipments fell 4.3% and bookings were up 84.5% over June.
Seventy-one percent of PCB shipments reported was domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 84% of rigid PCB and 33% of flexible circuit shipments in July, IPC said.
In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.
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