Latest News
SAN JOSE – Doug Rasor, vice president of emerging medical applications at Texas Instruments, will keynote the MicroElectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council’s Medical Electronics Symposium in September.
Rasor will discuss the coming convergence of technology and healthcare and share some truly inspiring examples of this trend in action.
Rasor’s presentation will take place Sept. 25 at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, MEPTEC said.
The program also includes sessions on revolutionary concepts in medical electronics, advanced materials, key enabling technologies and next-generation bio-medical systems
For information, visit www.meptec.org.
Rasor will discuss the coming convergence of technology and healthcare and share some truly inspiring examples of this trend in action.
Rasor’s presentation will take place Sept. 25 at Arizona State University in Tempe, AZ, MEPTEC said.
The program also includes sessions on revolutionary concepts in medical electronics, advanced materials, key enabling technologies and next-generation bio-medical systems
For information, visit www.meptec.org.
BANNOCKBURN, IL — Linda Woody of Lockheed-Martin will keynote the High-Performance Electronics Cleaning Symposium.
The IPC- and SMTA-sponsored event takes place Oct. 28-29, in Rosemont, IL.
Woody, a 30-year veteran in electronics assembly and electro-optical design, is a member of Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control Technical Excellence Staff. She will speak on nozzle design and implementation for cleaning flux residues from high-density, low-profile component assemblies.
The IPC- and SMTA-sponsored event takes place Oct. 28-29, in Rosemont, IL.
Woody, a 30-year veteran in electronics assembly and electro-optical design, is a member of Lockheed's Missiles and Fire Control Technical Excellence Staff. She will speak on nozzle design and implementation for cleaning flux residues from high-density, low-profile component assemblies.
MANKATO, MN – Winland Electronics reported second-quarter net sales fell 15% from last year to $6.9 million amid lower demand from two of its three largest customers. For the period ended June 30, the net loss was $800,000, versus a net loss of $500,000 in 2007.
FRANKFURT -- A leading German workers union will ask for pay hikes of more than 6.5% in the next round of contract talks, the union chairman Berthold Huber told a local newspaper.
The two-year contract signed by IG Metall, a union that represents three million metal and electronics workers, expires in October. The union is to expected to declare its wage demands next month, according to published reports.
In the contract signed in 2006, IG Metall negotiated a two-phase hike of 4.1% and 1.7%.
PARDUBICE, EAST BOHEMIA -- A local tuberculosis outbreak is affecting workers at Foxconn's plant here, according to reports in local papers.
Three more cases of TB infection were reported late last week, bringing to nine the total number of infected Foxconn workers. In all, 29 cases of TB have been reported in the Pardubice region since the beginning of the year, the report said.
Three more cases of TB infection were reported late last week, bringing to nine the total number of infected Foxconn workers. In all, 29 cases of TB have been reported in the Pardubice region since the beginning of the year, the report said.
The infected Foxconn employees are Mongolians, according to the report. Two are afflicted with open TB. Some of the workers are said to have shared living quarters.
TB starts as a small infection in the lung, but can spread to other parts of the body and can cause illness or death if left untreated. Active (open) TB is a highly infectious form of the disease.
The region typically reports about 50 cases of TB annually," officials said.
In response, Foxconn is reportedly toughening its admission checkups for foreign employees.
TALLIN, ESTONIA -- Elcoteq, the world's 12th largest EMS company, plans to rehire up to 300 workers at its plant here, a company’s spokeswoman said. "We expect our orders to increase and could have a demand for new workforce,” the spokeswoman said.
AYER, MA -- Plexus will close its facility here over the next six months and cut 170 jobs, the EMS company said today. Production will be shifted to other Plexus facilities, mostly in Wisconsin.
The move will save the company about $5 million annually.
PLYMOUTH, WI – ERSA has named Ernie Grice vice president of sales for the firm’s North American operations.
Grice will manage sales and marketing of all product areas, including screen and stencil printers, reflow, wave and selective soldering machines, rework, BGA inspection and hand tools.
He has worked for ERSA for six years and has 20 years’ experience in the electronics manufacturing industry.
Grice will manage sales and marketing of all product areas, including screen and stencil printers, reflow, wave and selective soldering machines, rework, BGA inspection and hand tools.
He has worked for ERSA for six years and has 20 years’ experience in the electronics manufacturing industry.
PORTSMOUTH, ENGLAND – Growth in shipments of automotive hard disc drives could slow in the late stages of the next decade, as shipments of systems featuring high-density flash memory begin to rise, says researcher Semicast.
In comparison to other consumer goods, such as personal video recorders, portable media players and laptop computers, the storage capacity of automotive entertainment systems, especially embedded navigation systems, has risen only slowly in recent years, according to the firm. For example, many factory fitted navigation systems offered in 2008 have a storage capacity of around 20GB, which is the same as the aftermarket HDD navigation systems originally introduced by suppliers such as Alpine and Pioneer to the Japanese market in 2001.
The phenomenal increase in the storage capacity of many consumer goods has typically been driven by the desire to store video. Thus, the slow increase in the storage capacity of navigation systems can perhaps be best explained by the need to store only the navigation database and compressed audio files (MP3/WMA), where 20GB is usually more than sufficient, says Semicast.
With legislation in most regions of the world banning the viewing of video in the front seats, it is questionable, therefore, if mainstream navigation systems will need to substantially increase storage capacity above current levels, even in the long term. At present, even the highest capacity aftermarket navigation system offers storage of 40GB, representing only double the capacity of the original systems introduced seven years ago, according to the firm.
"With the storage capacity of automotive entertainment systems set to increase only gradually, it is judged most likely that these systems will fall into the territory of flash memory storage, causing shipments of HDDs in cars to stall," said Colin Barnden, Semicast principal analyst.
While the existing cost per gigabyte of flash memory prevents its use for mass storage in mainstream automotive entertainment systems, continued rapid price erosion from chip suppliers such as SanDisk, coupled with only slowly increasing storage requirements, are steadily bringing the crossover point into view. Thus, as the cost per gigabyte of flash memory drops, so in the long term suppliers of automotive entertainment systems will almost certainly begin to design-out HDD in favor of a high-density flash memory solution. Flash memory offers vital automotive benefits over HDD, such as no moving parts, less susceptibility to vibration and shock, improved mean time between failure and operation over a wider temperature range, says Semicast.
Accordingly, Semicast believes HDD may prove to be only an interim solution in automotive entertainment, with its long-term use possibly limited only to high capacity systems such as some aftermarket navigation systems and high-end rear seat entertainment systems that compress and store movies or record TV. This scenario would mirror that seen already in consumer portable media players, where lower capacity products intended primarily for storing audio already use flash memory (typically up to 32GB), while video-based products such as the iPod classic and Archos 705 provide storage up to 160GB using HDD.
SAN JOSE – Worldwide silicon wafer area shipments grew more than 6% sequentially during the second quarter to 2.3 billion sq. inches, according to SEMI.
Compared to the second quarter of 2007, total area shipments increased nearly 5%.
"Following the slightly weaker first quarter and macro-economic concerns, silicon shipments grew more than 6% in Q2, which is in line with normal seasonality for the quarter, particularly with the start of a new fiscal year for most Japanese companies,” said Kazuyo Heinink, SEMI spokesperson. “This growth was mainly attributed to 300 mm.”
BANNOCKBURN, IL – The EC Regulatory Committee on Ecodesign and Energy Labeling has agreed to a draft concerning the standby and off modes of energy-using household and office products.
This proposal will be sent to the European Council and European Parliament for review. It should be adopted by the Commission and published by the EU at the beginning of 2009, barring any objections.
The first phase will come into effect in 2010.
The proposal is already coming under fire from electronics engineers. As one critic noted to a well-known industry email list, “The EU commission groups seem to be very inept when defining scopes and no two policy making groups seem to learn from the other's mistakes,” adding that the proposal’s scope is “extremely vague and confusing … the [EU] drops in words like household and office equipment into the scope, possibly with the intention of making it clearer but in reality just making it more obscure.”
A pdf of the proposal can be viewed at pdf.
This proposal will be sent to the European Council and European Parliament for review. It should be adopted by the Commission and published by the EU at the beginning of 2009, barring any objections.
The first phase will come into effect in 2010.
The proposal is already coming under fire from electronics engineers. As one critic noted to a well-known industry email list, “The EU commission groups seem to be very inept when defining scopes and no two policy making groups seem to learn from the other's mistakes,” adding that the proposal’s scope is “extremely vague and confusing … the [EU] drops in words like household and office equipment into the scope, possibly with the intention of making it clearer but in reality just making it more obscure.”
A pdf of the proposal can be viewed at pdf.
STAMFORD, CT – Despite ongoing demand from emerging markets, electronics sales will slow as consumers worldwide cut spending in response to the sluggish economy, says Gartner Inc.
"In coming months we expect to see signs of a widespread slowdown in the electronics sector," said Richard Gordon, Gartner analyst. The chip industry will most likely not begin recovery until the second half of 2009, says the firm.
PC and cellphone sales have held up well so far to this year because of demand in emerging markets such as China, India, Russia and South America, Gordon said, according to published reports. But, these nations will eventually feel the impact of global economic struggles.
In March, Gartner lowered its 2008 global semiconductor forecast, citing falling memory chip prices and the weakening global economy.
In March, Gartner’s 2008 global semiconductor revenue forecast dropped to 3.4%, to $278.4 billion, compared to a prior prediction of 6.2%. In 2007, semiconductor revenue reached $269.4 billion, up 2.5% year-over-year.
A week later, Gartner cautioned about increasing chip inventories, which continues to be an issue, according to the firm.
Also, many memory chipmakers recently have reported huge second-quarter losses, with expectations low for the third quarter as well, says the researcher.
"In coming months we expect to see signs of a widespread slowdown in the electronics sector," said Richard Gordon, Gartner analyst. The chip industry will most likely not begin recovery until the second half of 2009, says the firm.
PC and cellphone sales have held up well so far to this year because of demand in emerging markets such as China, India, Russia and South America, Gordon said, according to published reports. But, these nations will eventually feel the impact of global economic struggles.
In March, Gartner lowered its 2008 global semiconductor forecast, citing falling memory chip prices and the weakening global economy.
In March, Gartner’s 2008 global semiconductor revenue forecast dropped to 3.4%, to $278.4 billion, compared to a prior prediction of 6.2%. In 2007, semiconductor revenue reached $269.4 billion, up 2.5% year-over-year.
A week later, Gartner cautioned about increasing chip inventories, which continues to be an issue, according to the firm.
Also, many memory chipmakers recently have reported huge second-quarter losses, with expectations low for the third quarter as well, says the researcher.
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