ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems Group reported first-quarter net sales at its EMS unit rose 28% to $46 million in the period ended March 31. Operating income rose 40% to $1.4 million.

SPOKANE VALLEY, WA -- Key Tronic Corp. reported fiscal third quarter net income of $700,000, down from $4.4 million a year ago on product mix and program startups.

LAGUNA, PHILIPPINES – Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., the world's 28th largest EMS company, extended its reach through an agreement to acquire EPIQ NV's subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Mexico and the Czech Republic.

BANGKOK -- Electronics manufacturing services firm Fabrinet reported fiscal third quarter GAAP net income rose 23% year-over-year to $16.7 million, setting a company record.

NEWARK, NH -- IEC Electronics reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $1.75 million, up 68% from last year.

TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in April for the 21st consecutive month, says the Institute for supply management. The PMI was down 0.8 percentage points to 60.4%. New orders were 61.7%, down 1.6 percentage points, while production dipped 5.2 points to 63.8%. Inventories were up 6.2 percentage points to 53.6%, and customer inventories were up 1 point to 40.5%. Backlogs reached 61%, up 8.5 points.

“The recent trend of rapid growth in the manufacturing sector continued in April, as the PMI registered above 60% for the fourth consecutive month. The New Orders and Production Indexes continue to drive the PMI, as they have both exceeded 60% for five consecutive months. Manufacturing employment appears to have developed significant momentum, as the Employment Index readings for the first four months of 2011 are the highest readings in the last 38 years. Inventory growth also took place in April after two months of destocking; however, the inventory restocking would appear to be necessitated by the strong performance in new orders. While the manufacturing sector is definitely performing above most expectations so far in 2011, manufacturers are experiencing significant cost pressures from commodities and other inputs,” said Norbert J. Ore, spokesperson for ISM.

The overall economy grew for the 23rd consecutive month, says the firm.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC has released IPC-7093, Design and Assembly Process Implementation for Bottom Termination Components. This standard describes the design, assembly, inspection, repair, and reliability issues associated with bottom termination components whose external connections consist of metalized terminals that are an integral part of the component body.

NEVADA CITY, CA – A new report offers an in-depth look at the worldwide integrated circuit packaging market.

The Worldwide IC Packaging Market, 2011 Edition, provides individual IC device market forecasts for units, revenue and ASP, from 2008 through 2014. It was authored by New Venture Research.

The package solutions for each of these markets are forecast, broken down into I/O ranges. Package types are rolled up to deliver an overall worldwide forecast of IC packages, divided into 12 different package families, plus bare die solutions. 

Major package families include dual in-line package; small outline transistor; small outline; thin small outline package; dual flat pack no lead; chip carrier; quad flat pack; quad flat pack no lead; pin grid array; ball grid array; fine-pitched ball grid array, and wafer-level package.

Also, unit forecasts for die mounted using direct chip attach methods were developed. DCA methods include chip on board, flip chip on board, chip on glass, flip chip on glass, and tape automated bonding/tape carrier package.

The contract IC packaging market is forecast, and units and revenue are analyzed by package family. Profiles of individual contract IC package assemblers are also provided. 

FRAMINGHAM, MA – The worldwide mobile phone market grew 19.8% year-over-year in the first quarter of 2011, says the International Data Corp.

KEMPELE, FINLAND -- PKC Group will close on its previously announced acquisition of wiring harnesses manufacturer Segu on April 30.

VELDHOVEN, the NETHERLANDS -- Assembléon today announced Tonn van de Laar will replace Andre Papoular as chief executive.

ANGLETON, TX – Benchmark Electronics announced sales of $538 million for the quarter ended Mar. 31, down 6% year-over-year, on weaker demand and inventory adjustments.

The contract electronics manufacturer reported first-quarter net income of $15 million, a drop of nearly 17% compared to the same period last year. 

Computing was down 29% sequentially, medical was off 26% due to inventory adjustments and supply disruptions from Japan, and telecom dropped 8%.  Computing slowed on lower demand, but is expected to rebound as a new program ramps in the current quarter. Gross margins fell 70 basis points to 7.1%.

The company said demand is picking up as the year progresses. “During the quarter, we saw weaker than expected demand primarily due to customer inventory adjustments following strong fourth-quarter demand,” said CEO Cary Fu. “We expect sales in the second quarter to rebound, as our customers achieve balancing of inventory levels to match demand.”

Sales for the second quarter are expected to range from $560 million to $600 million.