SAN JOSE, Dec. 17 -- Sanmina-SCI Corp. said it will delay filing its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 2, and may revise its results to include a charge of up to 3 cents a share.

In a press release today, the EMS company said the delay stemmed from the need to review accounts at one of its plants.

The company said it had substantiated the questionable accounts but that its independent auditor had yet to sign off.

The company said it filed for a 15-day extension for the 10-K. It expects to file by the end of the calendar year.

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ROCHESTER, MN, Dec. 16 -- Pemstar Inc. today named Roy A. Bauer president and chief operating officer. The EMS firm also named Bauer to its board of directors.

He succeeds Al Berning, who remains chairman and chief executive officer.

Bauer was executive vice president and chief operating officer of Pemstar.

"We brought Roy on board in 2001 for his extensive industry and global operational experience. He's a tremendous asset and promoting him to president is recognition of his performance, abilities and potential," said Berning, in a press release.

Bauer was chief executive of Key Teknowledgy Corp., and spent 20 years at IBM in manufacturing, product development and quality management.

Bauer has a bachelor's degree in industrial science from the University of Wisconsin-Stout.

Pemstar is a provider of engineering, product design, manufacturing and fulfillment services.

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OTTAWA and TOKYO, Dec. 15 -- Webplan Corp. today announced that Hewlett Packard Japan will resell the firm's software for rapid response manufacturing.

WebPlan's tool, called RapidResponse Response Management, is said to automate and expedite the decision-making process that occurs between planning and execution. It permits rapid viewing of changes in supply and demand, proposes action alternatives and ranks and scores "what-if" scenarios.

"Large manufacturers require a strategic response management solution as a part of their supply chain management strategy,' said Hiroshi Oowaki, director, manufacturing industry practice, consulting and integration of Hewlett Packard Japan. "RapidResponse addresses this critical business need and is an important part of HP Japan's portfolio of offerings to help manufacturers profitably attract and retain customers."

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SAN JOSE, Dec. 16 -- The number of PCs in use worldwide will reach almost 1.3 billion by the end of the decade, up from about 575 million today. In a new study, Forrester Research claims markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia have reached maturity and that the bulk of the growth will come from emerging regions like China, Russia and India.

According to Forrester, emerging markets will account for 566 million new PCs in use by the end of 2010. The mature regions' consumption: 150 million new PCs in use. (Contrary to other news reports, the study reflects new PCs in use, not sales of PCs overall -- which would be a much higher number.)

Moreover, Western PC vendors won't dominate in those markets in the long term, Forrester says. The firm forecasts PC makers like Lenovo Group in China, which just announced the purchase of IBM's PC division, and Aquarius in Russia will gain share because they are better positioned to tailor the PC form factor, price points and applications to their local markets.

For its report Forrester studied 16 emerging markets representing 62% of the world's population.

China will gain the most new PC users, 178 million, while India will gain 80 million and Indonesia 40 million, the study says. According to Forrester, India's PC adoption -- currently one of the lowest rates in the world -- will grow 37% annually through 2010. Indonesia's growth rate will be 40% per year.

Of the 16 emerging markets, Mexico will have the deepest PC penetration as a percentage of population: 46 PCs per every 100 people.

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