EL SEGUNDO, CA -- The global outsourced manufacturing industry sits at a crossroads heading into 2011, according to research firm iSuppli.

SHENZHEN-- Another Foxconn factory worker has reportedly jumped to her death while on leave from the ODM giant. It was the second violent death among the company's workforce this week, according to news reports.

WASHINGTON -- Top Obama Administration officials this week are making repeated calls for China to relax its grip on its currency and foreign firms looking to do business there.

KULIM, KEDAH, MALAYSIA -- Whizz Systems will invest RM14 million ($4.6 million) to establish a PCB design and electronics assembly plant on a 2.36-acre plot here.

NITRA, SLOVAKIA -- Foxconn Techology Group could add up to 900 workers -- or 30% -- to its television manufacturing plant here, a local media outlet said. 

SAN JOSE – ASYS Group Americas has opened a sales and support center here. The center includes sales and service personnel, as well as spare parts stocking.

ASYS provides manufacturing equipment for the electronics and photovoltaics industry, and doubled its revenues in 2010.

The firm now has operating offices in Georgia, Massachusetts, Oregon, and California, along with support centers in Mexico and Brazil.

TAIPEI – Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, and Geely Automobile Holdings, China’s largest private auto maker, are in talks to develop green cars, according to published reports.

SAN JOSE -- Adeptron Technologies will close its plant here effective Jan. 31 and shift a portion of the production to their facilities in Markham and Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

TAIPEI – Foxconn today said December non-consolidated revenues were up 5.6% sequentially to $8.37 billion, the second highest monthly sales in the EMS firm’s history.

Fourth-quarter sales were up 11.3% to $24.6 billion, on strong orders from Apple.

For 2010, the firm’s non-consolidated revenues were $78.9 billion, up 62.8% year-over-year.

In the first three months of 2011, the company expects revenues to fall less than the typical 20%, while 2011 full-year sales are forecast to be at least 15% higher year-over-year.

BOSTON -- The SMTA and IEEE will hold a joint meeting at Benchmark Electronics to reveal the latest results of multiple research studies investigating nano-solders and Pb-free electronics in high-rel products.