Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

ST. LOUIS -- La Barge Inc.'s fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 14% but the provider of electronics manufacturing services said first-quarter results will be hurt by customer-requested shipment delays. 2005 results were aided by strong demand from defense customers.

SPOKANE, WA -- Key Tronic Corp. said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose to $2.8 million, up from $265,000 a year ago. The electronic manufacturing services firm said revenue grew 20% to $53.2 million for the quarter ended July 2.

TEMPE, AZ -- Three-Five Systems has signed definitive agreement to sell the assets of its electronic manufacturing services subsidiary's operations in Redmond, WA.

Catalyst Manufacturing Services will purchase the subsidiary, TFS Electronic Manufacturing Services Inc., in a deal worth about $6.6 million. Catalyst will pay $3.6 million in cash and assume certain liabilities of TFS EMS.

TAMPA -- Reptron Electronics today reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, and said it would lay off 10 to 12% of its workforce in an attempt to cut costs..

ARLINGTON, WA -- CheckSum, a supplier of low-cost in-circuit test systems, has opened an sales and support office in Shanghai.

John VanNewkirk, president and chief executive, said the company has more than 500 installations in China since first selling there in the 1990s.

The facility will be headed by Tony Tan, field product specialist, a veteran of Teradyne and Landrex Technologies.

PITTSBURGH -- Valor Computerized Systems' manufacturing data sets will be integrated with a startup EDA firm's component placement software in a move that could help speed electronics design.

DesignAdvance Systems, a provider of electronic design automation and CAD design-synthesis software, said its CircuitSpace component placement software will be used with Valor's manufacturing data, merging Valor's DfM capabilities with DesignAdvance's design and electrical rules checks, known as CircuitSpace.

"It is a logical next step for us to use manufacturing data sets to improve the manufacturing results of a CircuitSpace PCB design," said Randy Eager, CEO of DesignAdvance. "Valor's PCB manufacturers' data sets allows companies to calibrate their placement data with manufacturing equipment and processes."

Julian Coates, Valor vice president, corporate marketing, said, "By facilitating the use of PCB designers' production constraint data within CircuitSpace, our mutual customers are now able to consider DfM information while automating the placement of components on a PCB. This will have many positive effects including the reduction in design time and a reduction in the number of spins or design prototypes, which delay the release of new products."