SHANGHAI – IPC has appointed Peter Chiang as its vice president of IPC China. Chiang also will serve as IPC’s chief representative for Taiwan.

NEENAH, WI -- Plexus has entered into a strategic agreement with U.S.R. Electronic Systems under which the latter will support Plexus` customers requiring manufacturing and engineering solutions within Israel.

MAUI – The 2013 Pan Pacific Symposium Best Presentation Award went to Rolf Aschenbrenner, Ph.D., in a vote by attendees of the January conference.

DUBLIN – The worldwide electronics assembly market has experienced enormous growth over the past 19 years, nearly quadrupling in size to approximately $1.1 trillion in terms of cost of goods sold as of 2011, says Research and Markets.

SAN JOSE – A pair of trade groups will host a workshop on flame resistance requirements for electronics this spring.

MINNEAPOLIS -- AOI and SPI OEM CyberOptics took a net loss of $6.5 million for the quarter ended Dec. 31 as revenue fell sharply in its fiscal fourth quarter.

FINLAND -- EMS firm Scanfil reported December quarter sales rose 5% to 40.8 million euros, while net profits rose from flat to 300,000 euros.

REYNOSA, MEXICO -- Celestica has closed its two factories here and laid off as many as 2,000 workers, according to published reports.

PHOENIX -- Most electronic component types are seeing stable pricing and demand times, according to the latest Avnet trends tracker.

SAN DIEGO – In recognition of their contributions to IPC and the electronic interconnect industry, Ray Prasad, Ray Prasad Consultancy Group, and Lionel Fullwood, WKK Distribution, were honored with the IPC Raymond E. Pritchard Hall of Fame Award at IPC Apex Expo.

HONG KONG – SVI Public Co. said fourth-quarter revenue rose 11% from last year to $61 million, as the EMS company rebounded from the floods that disrupted production at its Thailand sites in 2011.

WESTLAKE, OHIO – Nordson reported first-quarter fiscal 2013 sales of $347 million, up 26% year-over-year.