Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

ATLANTA, GA — UP Media Group Inc. is seeking abstracts for PCB Design Conference East on Oct. 10 - 14, at The Center of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. Sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly, PCB East (pcbeast.com) is a conference and exhibition for the design and manufacture of advanced circuits, PCBs and semiconductor packages.

The five-day conference is made up of a three-day Technical Conference (Tuesday - Thursday) that features short courses and papers, and two days (Monday and Friday) of Professional Development one-day and two-day courses. In addition to an exciting show floor of industry vendors, this year's show will feature free networking and special events.

Papers and/or presentations for the Technical Conference should be 30-minute paper sessions, one-hour lectures or panel sessions, two-hour workshops or panel sessions, or half-day (3.5 hour) seminars. Papers and/or presentations also are sought for a Professional Development Curriculum of one-day and two-day tutorials.

To be considered as a speaker/presenter, fill out the online submission form or send an email to Conference Chair Andy Shaughnessy: ashaughnessy@upmediagroup.com, by March 4.

Papers and presentations might cover the following topics:

- High speed, high frequency and signal integrity

- Lead-free processes and their effect on PCB design

- Impedance and crosstalk control

- EMI/EMC analysis

- Embedded passives and active devices

- Thermal analysis

- RF and microwave

- Packaging and components

- Area arrays

- FPGA design and implementation

- Flexible circuitry

- HDI design and technologies

- PCB design/layout techniques

- 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

OYSTER BAY, NY - Anti-terrorism efforts may give electronics a boost as U.S. Customs aim to speed processing of incoming shipments. That could give RFID an edge in the battle for the electronic container tracking market.

Customs recently gave indications it will grant shippers meeting security guidelines expedited processing at U.S. ports. According to a new study by research firm ABI Research, continuing government programs will be the main impetus for electronic container tracking.

CBP is taking C-TPAT a step further by adding another tier of security, dubbed "C-TPAT Plus." This new program offers shippers immediate turnaround with no inspection upon arrival, in exchange for implementing more stringent requirements. These new requirements include technologies that can monitor tampering from the point of origin and provide inspectors with a record of events.

SPOKANE, WA, Jan. 31 -- Key Tronic Corp., a provider of electronic manufacturing services, today reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $51.2 million, up 57% from a year ago and 5% sequentially.

For the quarter ended Jan. 1, the company had net income of $490,000, reversing a net loss of $287,000 last year. Net income was $266,000 last quarter.

First-sales are up 49% from 2004, while net income ($756,000) is up more than $1 million.

"We are pleased with our continued revenue and earnings growth in the second quarter," said Jack Oehlke, president and chief executive, in a statement. "Our growth was primarily driven by increased production on programs for established customers involving gaming technology and specialty printer accessories and components. During the quarter, we added to our printed circuit board capacity to address the needs of those customers."

Key Tronic expects third-quarter revenues to be flat to down 5% from the second quarter. New programs from consumer and medical technology customers that begin later this year should boost revenues, the firm said.

"We anticipate that our performance in the second half of fiscal 2005 will be roughly comparable to the first half," Oehlke said.

ATLANTA -- Siemens Energy & Automation today completed of the sale of its electronics manufacturing center business to EPIC Technologies. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Effective today, all current employees will transfer to EPIC. The two plants, located in Johnson City, TN, and South Lebanon, OH, employ a combined 500 workers.

Siemens purchased the Johnson City facility in 1991 from Texas Instruments, and acquired the South Lebanon operations from Eaton Corp. in 2000.

The sites manufacture electronics assemblies and other devices. EPIC will continue contract manufacturing at the facilities and will assume responsibility for Siemens' current orders.

"We are highly committed to maintaining the level of quality and customer service that EMC established under the Siemens brand and look forward to bringing a high level of lean manufacturing efficiency and EMS industry expertise to these operations," said John Sammut, president and CEO of EPIC, in a press release.

WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics reported record revenues of $214.9 million for its fourth quarter on strong demand for its IC verification and newer printed circuit board design tools. GAAP net income was $15.8 million, up $2.8 million.

"We saw significant momentum from our newer, emerging products as we received significant orders in cabling, embedded software, high speed board design and coverage-driven verification," chairman and CEO Wally Rhines said in a press release.

For the quarter bookings rose 35%. All regions performed well with Japan and Pacific Rim bookings up over 100%, Europe up 45% and North America up 15% over a year ago. Bookings were up 20% for the year.

Revenue by region was 40% North America, 30% Europe, 15% Japan and 15% Pacific Rim.

The company took one-time charges of $4.9 million, primarily for acquisitions and restructuring.

Pro forma gross margins were down slightly, to 86.7%.

"While we see no sign of an upturn for the overall EDA industry, we note that Mentor and other companies like us with young product lines continue to perform well in this environment," said Greg Hinckley, president.

The firm's book-to-bill is at its highest level since 1996 and backlogs are at their highest point since 2000.

Separately, Mentor guided for Q1 sales of $177 million and 2005 revenue growth of 7%, to $760 million.

SAN JOSE - Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached a record $213 billion in 2004, a year-on-year increase of 28% from 2003, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. December chip sales declined 3.5% sequentially to $18.4 billion, in line with historical seasonality.

It was the first time since 2000 that global chip sales surpassed $200 billion.

December sales were 14.6% higher than December 2003. Fourth-quarter sales, at $55.1 billion, declined 0.8% sequentially.