Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - New Products

News

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.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - The December 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 8.7% year-on-year, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Bookings shot up 30.6%, a sharp rebound from November.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio was 1.04, up 0.08 from November. November was marked the first time the indicator had dropped below 1.0 since April 2003, said IPC, which tracks the data.

The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

Separately, the ratios were 0.93 for rigid PCBs and 1.41 for flexible circuits.

Rigid boards, estimated by IPC to make up 82% of all domestic PCBs, actually slid in December, with shipments falling 1.3% and bookings down 6.1%. Flex sales grew 32%, and bookings rose - no typo - 274%.

For the year rigid shipments rose 16%, bookings 6.6%. Flexible shipments grew 67.4% and bookings were up 104.3%.

For the year, shipments rose 26.5% while bookings jumped 25.4%. For the month, shipments rose 1.6% and bookings 73.4% vs. November.

Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.

Tempe, AZ - The manufacturing sector grew in January for the 20th consecutive month, despite a drop in new orders and backlogs. Production reversed a three month slide, said the Institute for Supply Management.

Calling the inventory growth "significant," ISM chairman Norbert Ore said, the PMI reflects "continuing strength in manufacturing. However, manufacturers continue to struggle with prices, particularly for energy.

The PMI measure of economic activity fell 0.9 points sequentially from the revised December number, to 56.4%. New orders fell 6.1 points to 56.5%. However, production rose 1.1 points to 57.8%. Employment was up 4.8 points, to 58.1%.

Electronic Components and Equipment, and Industrial and Commercial Equipment and Computers were among the sectors reporting growth.