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MINNEAPOLIS – EMS firm HEI Inc. returned to a profit in its third quarter as net sales rose 14.6%.

For the period ended May 31, the company reported net sales of $10.2 million and net income of $179,000. A year ago, HEI had a net loss of $1.8 million.

SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group, parent company of Circuits Assembly and Printed Circuit Design & Fab, announced today that “Unlocking the Myths of Heating Technology: A Practical Tutorial,” a one-hour free Webinar, will be held July 31 at 11 a.m. PDT, 2 p.m. EDT and 6 p.m. GMT.

SAN JOSE – The worldwide EMS market grew 17.3% in 2007 and will continue to grow briskly in the coming years, a new research report claims.

MILTON, NY – Sono-Tek Corp. (sono-tek.com) named to its representatives network SRS and Associates (stonesrs.com) for TN, MS, AL and GA; Murray A. Percival Co. (murraypercival.com) for MI, IN, OH and KY; Technical Marketing Co. (technicalmarketingcompany.com) for MT, WY, UT and CO; Restronics (restronics.com/florida.html) for FL; and Cope Assembly Products for VA, WV, NC and SC. Bennett Bruntil will head the newly restructured organization.

The reps will handle Sono-Tek's solder recovery line of products. There are no announced changes to the company's spray fluxing products reps.

MIAMI – Avnet has completed its purchase of Source Electronics Corp., a provider of outsourced custom IC programming services.

Avnet acquired the company from H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm.

Source has plants in Brazil, China, Mexico, Singapore and the US, where it provides programming services to OEMs and EMS companies.

HERNDON, VA – A host of major OEM and EMS companies, under the auspices of iNEMI, has outlined a set of recommendations for managing Pb-free alloy alternatives.

The consortium members recommend the following to help manage the use of multiple solder alloys:

Drive convergence of Pb-free alloys.
Develop an industry-standard assessment methodology.
Establish performance guidelines.
Update standards.
Identify and differentiate alloys.

iNEMI members supporting these recommendations include Agilent Technologies, Celestica, Cisco, Delphi Electronics & Safety, Flextronics International, Hewlett-Packard, Intel Corporation, Jabil Circuit, Motorola, Plexus Corp., Sanmina-SCI, Sun Microsystems and Texas Instruments.

INEMI’s recommendations are available at
http://thor.inemi.org/webdownload/projects/ba/Pb-Free_Alloys/Alloy_recs.pdf.

SAN JOSE – X-line Asset Management will auction an SMT facility in Garden Grove, CA, on July 22. The auction will close July 23.

Equipment lines on display include machines from Siemens, DEK, Vitronics, Omron, Nutek, Quad, Heller, Nicolet and others.

For more information, visit www.xlineassets.com.

TAIPEI – Foxconn Electronics, the world’s largest ODM/EMS company, expects revenue growth to gain steam this month, the company said.

YOUNGSVILLE, NC — Eaton Corp. will open a manufacturing facility here, on the site of a former Flextronics facility, the company said today.

Eaton, which makes electrical systems for power management, is taking over a 125,000 sq. ft. building in a move that will create some 100 jobs.

Flextronics shuttered the site earlier this year after completing its purchase of Solectron, and laid off 480 workers.

HUNTSVILLE, AL – Fresh off the sale of two PC manufacturing plants, Sanmina-SCI is going forward with its stated goals to land more military and defense contracts. The EMS firm is reportedly working with Lockheed Martin in a bid for a $3.5 billion contract to build the Army's next-generation intercom system.

Sanmina-SCI reportedly already provides various communications systems to the Army for helicopters. The company employs 1,000 workers in Huntsville.

The deal would cover some 54,000 Army vehicles worldwide, according to a report in The Huntsville Times.

An Army announcement on the program is expected shortly.

TAIPEI – Quanta Computer and Compal Electronics each expect third-quarter shipments to grow 20% or more sequentially on stronger PC demand.

ARLINGTON, VA – Worldwide revenue for consumer electronics will grow nearly 10% this year, hitting $700 billion by 2009, says a recent report from the Consumer Electronics Association and the GfK Group.

Consumers will spend $42 billion more on CE products in 2009 over 2008. Countries with fast-growing economies and large emerging middle classes, such as Brazil, Russia, India and China, will lead the way in new CE revenue growth, says the report. By 2009, China will account for nearly 15% of global CE revenue, trailing only North America (22% share) and Western Europe (16% share).

Consumers’ ongoing desire for mobility makes this the largest category worldwide in both unit sales and revenue. Collectively, sales of mobile products will surpass a staggering 1.5 billion units this year, says the report. Topping the list are portable navigation devices, with expected worldwide revenue growth of nearly 20%. Laptop computers (up 15%) and cellphones/smartphones (up 14%) will also see strong sales.

Global revenue for LCD TVs will grow nearly 28%, resulting in more than 100 million units sold worldwide. Flat-screen TV sales will account for nearly 20% of worldwide CE sales. DVD players have expected sales of 127 million units in 2008, while the forecast for video game console sales is 89 million units.