Endicott Interconnect Technologies (EI, Endicott, NY), a global supplier of organic semiconductor chip packaging, printed circuit boards (PCBs), board/system assembly and electromechanical equipment, has recently named Michael Arp as VP and CFO. The company also announced that Jay Desai has joined the company as VP of sales.
Arp joins the company with 31 years of financial management experience in several industries. Most recently, he served as VP of finance for NFI Interactive, a private transportation and logistics company. Arp has also held senior financial positions in the telecom and aerospace industries. In addition, he was the cofounder and CEO of American Turf Manufacturing Inc, now known as Worldwide Golf Resources. Arp is a graduate of the University of West Florida and Angelo State University.
Desai brings 20 years of experience in the electronic interconnect business. He has held positions in both engineering and sales, supporting PCBs, flex and rigid flex products for a variety of companies. In his most recent position as VP of sales and marketing for ISU Pentasys, Desai built a sales team and strategy that introduced the ISU business model in North America. He has experience in building strategic partnerships and long-term agreements with customers, and he has also managed development programs, certifications, cost reduction and process improvement efforts in his engineering roles. Desai holds a bachelor's of technology in mechanical engineering from MS University in Baroda, India, and an MS in mechanical engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.
TT electronics Prestwick Circuits (Irvine, Scotland), a subsidiary of global electronics manufacturing company TT electronics plc, is celebrating 35 years of manufacturing printed circuit boards (PCBs) in April 2004.
The company was originally founded in April 1969 with the objective of creating a precision manufacturing facility for high quality PCBs to supply the Scottish electronics industry. Prestwick now exports over 85% of products manufactured, up from just 11% 20 years ago.
Prestwick currently has customers in the automotive, telecommunications, consumer and defence industries. The automotive sector is Prestwick's largest market, with over 80% of PCBs manufactured by the Irvine plant being supplied to Tier 1 automotive suppliers. Compared to a figure of 1% in 1984, this demonstrates the huge growth in automotive technology and how dramatically the demand for electronics has increased as vehicle manufacturers become more advanced.
Derek Mansfield, managing director, TT electronics Prestwick Circuits, said, "Prestwick is one of today's largest manufacturers of printed circuit boards in Europe and, with 35 years' manufacturing experience, Prestwick has proved that it can endure and overcome the cyclical nature of our business and meet customers ever increasing demands. I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of Prestwick, to thank our valued customer base, loyal staff and suppliers, for their continued support."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Speedline Technologies Inc. (Franklin, MA) reported that sales during the first quarter of 2004 were up more than 42% over the same period last year. Bookings levels have also increased dramatically with a growth of 55% over the first quarter of 2003.
"We're seeing an upturn in worldwide electronics manufacturing that is driving higher capital equipment purchasing," said Pierre de Villemejane, president, Speedline Technologies. "Europe and the Americas are recovering and Asia continues to grow."
De Villemejane said most traditional sectors of the electronics industry are participating in the recovery, including mobile phones, consumer electronics and computers. "Manufacturers are replacing obsolete equipment as well as expanding their facilities," he said. "However, Speedline is also witnessing a significant surge in special niche applications and new processes."
Speedline experienced rebounding sales across its entire portfolio, including CAMALOT dispensers; ELECTROVERT reflow, wave and cleaning products; and MPM printers.
"These sales increases are coming from our customer base, market share gains and new market penetration," said de Villemejane. "In particular, the trend toward lead-free printed circuit board processing is boosting sales of our wave soldering and reflow oven products."
According to the company, the recent sales growth also is attributable to Speedline's success in defining and developing new challenging applications and processes with a number of key customers. These achievements include new advances in underfill and medical dispensing, fine-feature printing with traditional and lead-free pastes, and efficient manufacturing configurations for lead-free wave soldering and reflow, fuel cell manufacturing and glue printing.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
SMT Resource Group LLC (Wake Forest, NC), a reseller and integrator of new and refurbished electronics assembly equipment, has purchased the manufacturing equipment from 3Com's plant in Ireland. SMT Resource assisted 3Com earlier in the asset disposition when their Singapore and Santa Clara, CA, plants closed and production was outsourced.
The agreement covers 50 surface-mount technology machines plus testers and supporting boxbuild equipment. Warehousing and shipping equipment is also available for sale. SMT Resource expects to sell most equipment by early summer. Earliest sales have been to established customers in Asia and North America, with some interest from Europe, especially for non-surface-mount technology equipment such as forklifts and storage racking.
SMT Resource has over 100 major pieces of equipment in inventory. Additionally, the company has sold 200 machines during the past 12 months. SMT Resource will sell, integrate and provide support and service for both new and refurbished electronics assembly equipment to achieve best in class selection for their customers.
SMT Spares specializes in spare parts not readily available from Panasonic and Fuji, especially for three- to ten-year-old machines. More spares are being added to the inventory weekly.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
National Semiconductor (Santa Clara, CA) has announced that it will offer lead-free packages for its complete line of integrated circuit (IC) products by the end of 2004. The company also will significantly reduce bromine and antimony-based flame-retardants in an effort to make more environmentally neutral electronic components.
Today, approximately 90% of National's portfolio of 15,000 analog and mixed-signal ICs is available in lead-free package types. Lead was formerly used in the plating finish of copper leadframe-based packages. It was also used in the solder balls of array packages such as micro surface mount device (SMD), PBGA and FBGA packages. National will replace the lead in leadframe packages with a matte tin finish and in the solder balls with a tin-silver-copper alloy. Once this aggressive program is fully implemented, National expects to replace approximately five tons of lead used per year.
"Samsung is currently using about one-half dozen different lead-free ICs from National Semiconductor in its flat panel display (FPD) products which are sold worldwide," said Soo Kyung Yoo, vice president Quality Team, Display Device Center, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. "In addition, we have aggressive plans in place to adopt National's lead-free ICs for use in a wide variety of other Samsung products."
Packaging is a critical part of the semiconductor manufacturing process. National's advanced package technologies enable its customers to build cell phones, displays, computers and many other electronic products that are small, thin, lightweight and have long-lasting battery life.
www.national.com/packaging/leadfree/
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
ASAT Holdings Ltd (Hong Kong, China) and ASAT Inc., global providers of semiconductor package design, assembly and test, has announced that it has been recognized with the SigmaTel (Pleasanton, CA) 2003 Assembly and Test Supplier of the Year Award.
ASAT was recognized for providing outstanding performance, on-time delivery, superior quality and continued support of the development of all of SigmaTel's product lines. ASAT has been providing assembly, test and package design services to SigmaTel for more than three years.
"ASAT has had a positive impact on our ability to rapidly ramp our products into high volume and deploy them more efficiently," said Steve Beatty, vice president of operations at SigmaTel, Inc. "ASAT's focus on continuous improvement in all aspects of its business has allowed us to consistently deliver quality products to our customers."
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
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