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TEMPE, AZ – The manufacturing sector in September dropped to its lowest level since October 2001 – the month following the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington – the Institute for Supply Management reported today.

HARTLEPOOL, ENGLAND – The Stadium Group has acquired Fox Industries for £100,000, the electronics manufacturer said today.

Fox, which designs and sells of power supplies and other components for high-reliability applications, has reported annual sales of £300,000.

Fox owner Roger Barrett will be named business development director of Stadium Power.

Last month, Stadium reported pretax earnings rose 13% to £1.4 million. Chief executive Nigel Rogers said the company is continuing to look for other potential acquisitions in power and electronics.

EINDHOVEN, NETHERLANDS – AssemblÃ©on will reduce its worldwide headcount by 210 positions, or 29%, in response to the downturn in the global economy and the placement equipment market, the company said today.

The proposed plans would drop the company's global workforce to 510, from its current 720. Included in the cuts would be 135 positions in the Netherlands, where the company currently employs 390 workers.

AssemblÃ©on has asked its Works Council for advice on the proposed headcount reductions and will help affected employees find new positions, the company said in a press release.

The moves are being made to help the firm become "structurally profitable while maintaining its technology leadership."

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Global shipments of multi-standard video-decoder-equipped televisions are expected to rise to 966,000 units this year, up from zero in 2007. By 2012, shipments will rise to 41.7 million units, says iSuppli Corp.

The global transition from analog to digital television broadcast is spurring TV makers to offer sets with more advanced video decoding chips, capable of working with multiple and new video standards.

Across the globe, the transition away from analog and toward digital television broadcasting is proceeding. Some regions, like North America, have nearly completed the transition, while other parts of the world – like South America and regions of the Middle East – are just getting started defining which digital standard to adopt and when to schedule their analog shutoff, says the firm.

Regions such as Eastern Europe and Scandinavia, as well as countries such as France and China, now are rolling out digital TV broadcast systems that use these newer technologies, paving the way for broader adoption in the future, according to iSuppli.

SAN JOSE -- The current slowdown in chip production will be tied to the depth and length of the US financial crisis, an industry researcher asserts in the latest issue of the SEMI newsletter.

SOUTH PLAINFIELD, NJ – Cookson Electronics’ Assembly Materials Group has promoted Rick Ertmann to president, responsible for its Alpha and Semiconductor Packaging units.

KOKOMO, IN -- In hopes of enticing Delphi Electronics & Safety to keep some 3,000 jobs here, city councilors have reportedly approved a $160 million tax abatement for the company. The Common Council will hold a public hearing on the recommended abatement, a precursor to final approval, on Oct. 13.

MARLBOROUGH, MA – Satcon Technology Corp. sold its electronics business unit to Spectrum Microwave for an undisclosed sum.

The company did reveal the combined proceeds from the sale of the electronics division and its motors unit, which was sold in a separate deal, totaled $5.6 million.

The electronics group designs and builds power circuitry for communications, aerospace, industrial and defense applications. Its annual revenues are roughly $10 million.

SUZHOU -- SMT equipment OEM Essemtec today announced the opening of a customer training and demo center here. The site, which opened earlier this year, is equipped with multiple lines of production equipment and is operated by Essemtec’s local distributor Smart Technology Ltd.

BERWYN, PA – Tyco Electronics said it has finalized two previously announced sales, netting about $470 million.

The firm sold its radio frequency components and subsystem unit to Cobham Defense Electronic Systems and its automotive radar sensors unit to Autoliv Inc.

The sales closed Friday, the company said.

FORT WORTH, TX î º TTI Inc. has acquired the Mateleco Group, a connector distributor with six European locations.

“This acquisition will establish TTI and Mateleco as the number one distributors in both passives and connectors in France,” said TTI president and CEO Paul Andrews.

Mateleco will operate independently as a wholly owned subsidiary of TTI. The management team will remain in place with Claude Joly as president and Bernard Le Jeune and Bernard Franchet as corporate officers. Joly will report to Gene Conahan, TTI Europe’s president.

No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed.

SURPRISE, AZ – Les Hymes, known industry-wide for his knowledge of cleaning and electronics assembly, has died.

Hymes spent much of his career as an SMT specialist with GE Medical Systems and later Plexus. He was one of the first to transition into consulting, and spent nearly two decades working with such companies as Boeing.

In 1991, he authored Cleaning Printed Wiring Assemblies in Today's Environment, and contributed chapters to several other books, including Electronic Materials Handbook.

He was a Circuits Assembly columnist for several years.

Hymes was a dedicated workshop presenter and speaker, and received many industry honors through the years, including the IPC Presidents Award in 1988.