MUNICH -- Siemens is leading a joint industry-academia program to develop a new ceramic printed circuit board that will be integrated into the power supplies of electric vehicles.

LONG BEACH, CA – The mood at the Long Beach Convention Center Oct. 13 was generally ho-hum, with enthusiasm for the IMAPS 2011 trade show limited, but not absent.

PRINTED CIRCUIT DESIGN & FAB/CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY senior editor Chelsey Drysdale checked in with exhibitors on the last day of a show that started busy and waned throughout the week. The hall was devoid of attendees on the final morning. Exhibitors shared their thoughts on the show and their firms’ happenings:

Endicott Interconnect Technologies’ Roy Albano, field sales executive, said this was a good show for them, with quality leads. He said that although large aerospace companies are still laying off workers in certain segments, aerospace and defense, as well as the medical market, are still doing well for EI. (Disclosure: The president of IMAPS is EI CTO Voya Markovich.)

Crane Aerospace & Electronics “had a busy first day” at the show, with the second day “slower,” and the third day “virtually dead,” said Jason Dobbs, business manager. Crane wasn’t alone: DuPont also mentioned “very light traffic,” and a desire to speak to more designers on the floor.

Nusil Silicone Technology presented one of the technical sessions and was extremely happy with the turnout and how well its conductive silicones presentation fit into the track with other speakers, according to Vincent Malavé, technical sales.

Indium said it was a small show this year, and added that it has noticed a “steady decline in the exhibit hall every year.” However, Indium received a number of thermal interface questions at the show, and said that IMAPS’ technical sessions were excellent.

Several vendors recalled better attendance in years past. Some two decades ago, the precursor to IMAPS drew a reported 8,000 to 10,000 attendees. Today, like many shows, attendance is a fraction of that. One report held that this year’s version had about 1,200 attendees, basically flat with the last two years.

Bradley Benton, regional account manager for Palomar Technologies, pointed out that the electronics industry in general needs young people, with so many workers nearing retirement. He is concerned that universities aren’t doing enough to keep youth in the industry. Julie Adams, worldwide sales director at Palomar, said that in the past year, Palomar’s contract manufacturing business has taken off, with many new opportunities in processing and prototyping.

Rich Brooks and Debbie Carboni of Kyzen Corporation were upbeat, saying the show had gone “better than expected.” They said they had twice as many leads as they anticipated. President Lynn Roose of Microscreen agreed, saying the show was “absolutely wonderful.” Her team was eagerly showcasing a squeegee they developed for dual-level stencils.

After a “phenomenal” PCB West, Rogers Corp. declared this show “much slower.” The firms’ representatives were talking to people here about Heatwave metal matrix composites, Coolspan thermal interface materials, and Curamik, a company Rogers acquired in January.

Nordson Dage was happy to be in Southern California, as it is a “good market” for the firm, which spent time discussing automation (specifically, a step and repeat function for the military) and demonstrating its 4000 Plus Multipurpose Bondtester.

Stellar Microelectronics, with a 140,000 sq. ft. facility with 250 employees in Valencia, CA, was one of the local electronics manufacturing firms in attendance. Other EMS companies included Plexus, represented by Steve Greathouse and Ali Hendries. Greathouse and Hendries mentioned the construction of Plexus’ fourth Malaysian plant currently taking place. Having facilities in Malaysia is convenient for customers, they said, as many like a presence in the “Far East, but not China.”

Other exhibitors included Ansys, which acquired Apache two months ago, Lord Corp., Finetech, MacDermid, Henkel, Nordson EFD, Nordson YESTech, Sonoscan, Technic, and Dyconex.

WASHINGTON – The US Patent and Trademark Office is seeking comments by Nov. 4 on China’s patent enforcement system.

Comments are requested concerning the acquisition and enforcement of utility models and design patents; evidence collection and preservation in Chinese courts; obtaining damages and injunctions; enforceability of court orders, and administrative patent enforcement.

USPTO requests examples of firsthand experience using China’s patent enforcement system and recommendations on ways to improve it.

Based on comments, USPTO said it would produce a report detailing the patent enforcement landscape in China, identifying challenges for US innovators and recommending improvements.

BALTIMORE -- Zentech Manufacturing has completed a $1.5 million surface mount equipment expansion at its EMS facility here.

AYUDHAYA, THAILAND -- Benchmark Electronics' Thailand subsidiary has temporarily suspended operations as a result of flooding in the surrounding areas of the EMS company's campus here.

BRASILIA -- It took a meeting between Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou and Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, but a planned multi-billion dollar investment by Foxconn is back on.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Third-quarter worldwide PC shipments increased 3.6% year-over-year, beating last quarter's numbers but lower than market projections.

REYNOSA, MEXICO -- Top 10 EMS company Cal-Comp USA has purchased a 125,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility here to perform electronics manufacturing services, in particular for a major supplier of set-top boxes.

SHENZHEN – Zestron said today it would open its fifth global technical center here, with an inauguration to be held Oct. 25.

With the opening of this facility, the company is adding its second customer support center for China and fifth overall. Other sites are in Europe, the US and Southeast Asia.

The 1000 m²–plus facility features a range of different cleaning machines by various suppliers; a team of process engineers to support customers solving cleaning challenges; fully equipped conference rooms as a platform for technical seminars; and an HD video teleconferencing system that enables Zestron and its customers to access any of the company’s global engineering teams.

SUGAR LAND, TX -- Suntron will close its manufacturing facility here next year and move production to other locations, the company said today.

RICHARDSON, TX -- Asset InterTech has issued a white paper describing a new method for validating, testing and debugging printed circuit boards by embedding a board-tester-in-a-chip.

BANGKOK – Rampant flooding north of Bangkok has put several electronics manufacturing facilities in the region at risk.