Methuen, MA –  Lightspeed Manufacturing has added a third SMT manufacturing line to its EMS manufacturing capabilities, responding to increased volume and a flood of new orders, according to Rich Breault, president.
 
“Our sales have doubled over 2005, and we needed to add capacity to handle it,” said Breault. “Due to the wide-ranging nature of these orders, we also had to build in the ability to handle a high product mix.”
 
The new line includes an Assembleon flexible pick-and-place system with high-volume placement capability, as do the company’s other lines. “This means that we have plenty of flexibility for offline setup, and can run multiple jobs at once, or switch to another line if there is a hitch so that we don’t have to interrupt production,” Breault added. “Having three identical, top-level machines gives us speed and tremendous flexibility to handle virtually any circuit assembly job.”
 
Lightspeed recently began shipping Pb-free assemblies, as the facility switches over to RoHS-compliant manufacturing.

HUDSON, NH – CeTaQ America has launched a mobile version of its metrology service, bringing machine capability analysis testing and verification services to a manufacturer’s facility.

This portability, says general manager Michael Sivigny, is not only fast and convenient, but is necessary for accuracy, and brings immediate solutions to the customer whose process may be out of control, or who may be experiencing problems due to a production machine being out of calibration.

“Testing directly at the machine also ensures optimum accuracy of the results,” he said. “There is nothing to transport, no risk of test samples moving or repositioning. We bring all of the key technology of our CmController system right to the contract manufacturer’s or OEM’s facility, and perform a complete evaluation and analysis right there on their production floor using our mobile metrology unit. This has tremendous value to the customer, because it provides an immediate solution – and immediate answers.”

He did not disclose the pricing schedule for the service.

The testing firm's novel hardware and software quality tools that analyze machine capability, checking the basic settings and functions of the equipment to identify, control, and correct failures, so that production machines can once again assemble product within the original quality specifications established by the manufacturer. 

Taipei -- Hon Hai Precision is expected to retain its position as Taiwan's largest electronic manufacturer in terms of sales in the first quarter of this year, according to Chinese news source CENS. Following Hon Hai are Quanta Computer, Asustek Computer Inc., Compal Electronics Corp. and BenQ Corp.


Hon Hai expects $6.15 billion in sales in Q1, up 40% year-on-year. Quanta estimated it would see first-quarter sales grow 30% to reach $3.07 billion. Asustek projects 20% growth to $2.76 billion, and Compal said sales would rise 10% to $1.72 billion. Thanks to its merger with the handset unit of Siemens AG, BenQ is expected to snatch 80% annual growth in sales, hitting $1.47 billion.

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Moorpark, CA -- Tier two EMS company CTS Corp. is establishing manufacturing operations in Matamoros, Mexico. Production is expected to start in mid-2006 and will focus on electro-mechanical and system integration.
 
The Matamoros facility marks the fourth EMS manufacturing site in North America, in addition to Moorpark and Santa Clara, CA, and Londonderry, NH. CTS  has manufactured components and sensors in Matamoros for nearly 40 years.