PORTLAND, OR – Celestica today said it has completed its acquisition of the semiconductor equipment contract manufacturing operations of Brooks Automation.

No financial terms were disclosed.

The operations, based here and Wuxi, China, specialize in manufacturing complex mechanical equipment and providing systems integration services for large semiconductor equipment manufacturers.

Celestica delivers end-to-end product lifecycle solutions.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC is supporting a movement to phase-in new regulations governing so-called conflict metals over a three-year period.

The trade group this month submitted comments to the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the legal basis for a phase-in of the conflict minerals regulatory requirements. The SEC is charged with overseeing the legislation’s implementation under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which was signed into law in 2010.

The conflict metals rule attempts to contain raw tin and other ores mined in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The minerals are said to be funding an ongoing civil war that has cost millions of lives over the past decade. US businesses have generally rejected the legislation as ineffective and impossible to authenticate.

IPC submitted a four-page brief proposing a three-year phase-in of the rules. The association’s recommendations are based on the anticipated dates at which on-the-ground tracking systems, such as the ITRI bag-and-tag program, are in place and supplying verifiable conflict-free minerals.

In addition, IPC believes the three-year period will give a significant number of smelters the opportunity to be audited and their products validated as conflict-free.

Without the phase-in, a de facto ban of minerals from the DRC and adjacent countries will be the only way to provide certifiably conflict-free minerals, as there are no tracking systems in place, says IPC.

SANTA CLARA, CA – Registration is now open for PCB West 2011. The event will take place at the Santa Clara Convention Center Sept. 27 – 29.

TRENCIN, SLOVAKIA – AU Optronics has opened a plant here, its second European site for large-sized LCD display production.

DUNFERMILINE, SCOTLAND -- Simclar Group's UK operations went into administration yesterday as creditors moved to protect their loans to the contract electronics manufacturer.

ARLINGTON, VA -- The National Association of Manufacturers has issued a statement in support of H.R. 1249, the America Invents Act.

TOKYO -- Japan-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment said 90-day average bookings were ¥119,148 million, up 4.4% over revised April levels and 12.2% from last year.

WASHINGTON – President Obama today announced a national initiative to invest in emerging technologies to create jobs and increase US global competitiveness.

The Advanced Manufacturing Partnership aims to unite industry, universities and the federal government to concentrate on building manufacturing capabilities in national security industries; diminishing the time required to create advanced materials used in manufacturing products; establishing US robotic leadership; increasing manufacturing process energy efficiency, and developing new technologies that will reduce the time required to design, build and test manufactured goods.

More than $500 million will be allocated to start this effort, including investments on small high-powered batteries, advanced composites, metal fabrication, bio-manufacturing and alternative energy.

This summer, the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, Energy, Agriculture and Commerce have set a goal of $300 million in funding.

BOLTON, MA – Electronic data transfer formats, vital as they are, are guaranteed to elicit yawns, if not outright derision, from users. But that history isn’t deterring an industry task group from attempting to tackle the now three-decades-old problem of unintelligent schematic files.

BROOKLYN PARK, MN – Krayden has opened a new location here to provide enhanced service and support to customers in the upper Midwest.

This is the company’s fourth expansion in the last two years.

Krayden provides technical expertise and offers application assistance through custom packaging and formulating, dispensing/processing equipment and technologies, in addition to fabricating capabilities.

The firm serves solar, electronics, aerospace and transportation, as well as OEM manufacturers.

WESTFORD, MA – Electronics test and fault diagnostic provider Diagnosys plans to relocate its Kissimmee, FL, and Westford, MA, offices into a single, larger facility near Boston.

Approximately 80% of the Kissimmee staff, including all of the engineering team, will make the transition. Additional staff will be hired in Massachusetts.

The transition is scheduled to begin in early July, with final steps taking place in late September through early October. The company’s training facility will remain in Kissimmee through October.

The firm noted its Functional Test Group has won several new long-term contracts over the past few years, while its Diagnostic Group has seen an increase in the need for support of products and services to the Functional Test Group. 

Diagnosys provides equipment and support for testing printed circuit boards and modules.

GARDEN GROVE, CA – A call for abstracts has been issued for the Symposium on Counterfeit Electronic Parts and Electronic Supply Chain. The event will take place Dec. 6 – 8 at the Crowne Plaza Anaheim Resort.

This symposium will provide a forum to cover changes in the electronic parts supply chain on how an organization performs part selection and management through the whole lifecycle of the parts.

Topics include impact of supply chain changes on the component management practices: quality, reliability, manufacturability; electronic parts distribution: current stage and evolution; authentication techniques for securing electronic part supply chain; federal procurement practices and its impact on electronic supply chain; inspection tools and techniques for detecting counterfeit parts; new areas of counterfeit concerns: materials, energy storage, and industry and international working groups and standards on electronic part supply chain and counterfeit electronic parts.

The symposium is sponsored by SMTA and CALCE at the University of Maryland.

Three-hundred-word abstracts should be sent to diganta@umd.edu no later than Aug. 23. 

Presentations are due Oct. 28.

For more information, visit www.smta.org/counterfeit.