Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

BINGHAMTON, NY – Universal Instruments Corp. will cut 30 staff from its Binghamton headquarters and move nearly 20 software engineering jobs from Bangalore to Binghamton as part of a company-wide restructuring. The moves are due to lower than expected business volumes, the company said in a press release today.

Minneapolis, MN -- The SMTA has added four new board members to serve three-year terms. New to the board are: Dr. Dan Baldwin, Engent; Dr. Denis Barbini, Vitronics-Soltec; Jim Kuehn, Tyco Electronics Automation Group; and Dr. Ning-Cheng Lee, Indium Corp. of America.

They will join these existing members: president David Raby, STI Electronics; VP technical programs Dr. Ken Gilleo, ET-Trends; VP communications Steve Greathous, Intel Corp.; secretary Irene Sterian, Celestica; Planning Committee chairperson Bill Barthel, Plexus Corp.; and Planning
Committee members Dick Russell, Phoenix Designs; Emmanuel "Manno" Siméus, Raytheon Missile Systems; and Dr. Laura Turbini, University of Toronto.

Wilsonville, OR – Not long ago, the cycle lead time at Tier 1 automakers was as much as four years for a new vehicle platform. The times they are a-changing.

Typical cycle times have been slashed to 24 months this year, with further reductions in store. According to data from supplied by Mentor Graphics (mentor.com), the new goal is 12 months by 2010, with some companies targeting as few as eight.

Meanwhile, electronics content of vehicles continues to rise. Boosted by new telematics and safety systems, auto electronics content is forecast to reach 40% of the total new car price by 2010, up from 23% last year, say IC Insights (icinsights.com) and Infineon (infineon.com).

BOSTON – Amphenol Corp. continued its mini acquisition spree today, agreeing to buy Teradyne Inc.’s Connection Systems division for $390 million in cash.

The deal is set to close in 30 to 60 days, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.

BUDAPEST – The Hungarian unit of Flextronics Intl. will overhaul its product line after two unnamed global mobile phone companies suspended their handset orders, general manager Janos Lang reportedly told the Hungarian daily paper Napi Gazdasag.

New products will include global positioning system devices, naval navigation equipment and digital broadcasting devices. The company hopes to fully recover lost manufacturing capacities in a year, according to Lang. The company laid off some 900 staff after it lost the phone orders.

ROSEVILLE, CA -- International DisplayWorks, a manufacturer and designer of liquid crystal displays, modules and assemblies, today announced an initial order worth up to $5 million next year from a new customer to provide monochrome displays for three proprietary VoIP telephone models.

The customer, a leading communication system and services provider, reported about $4 billion in revenues last year, IDW said.

Shipments are scheduled to begin in the first fiscal quarter; IDW estimates the deal would be worth $3 million to $5 million during the next fiscal year, subject to end-market demand.

"This represents a new relationship for IDW with a large, rapidly growing communication products and services leader," said Tom Lacey, IDW chairman, in a statement.