SHENZHEN -- Nam Tai today reported fourth-quarter net profit of $5.3 million, up nearly 13 times the net profit of a year ago.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Jabil Circuit today said it has acquired three of its former operations in France and Italy, which were divested in July 2010.

PARIS – Electronic manufacturing services provider AsteelFlash Group reported 2010 fourth-quarter operating profit of $12.5 million. Operating profit for 2010 was $31.6 million.

MADRID – Ellsworth Adhesives Ibérica has moved to a larger facility here.

Local staff provides support to Spanish and Portuguese customers with technical support, local stocking and delivery options.

The team is focusing efforts on building accounts and managing customer service, developing sales and marketing initiatives, and providing financial and administrative management.

The firm distributes specialty chemicals and equipment.

SEOUL – Koh Young has announced dates and locations for its upcoming European Truck Tour, a mobile showcase of the company’s 3D inspection technology.

Beginning, Mar. 21, the tour will bring 3D inspection technology to 20 countries throughout Europe for 90 days. It involves more than 60 hands-on equipment demonstration locations.

The Zenith 3D AOI system, aSPIre2 advanced 3D SPI, and KY 8030-3 in-line SPI system will be showcased.

The tour will kick off in the Benelux countries, then head to southern Europe, followed by the Nordic countries. Stops include the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Sweden. 

For more information, visit www.3dinspectionontour.com.

SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group today announced a series of webinars on such hot topics as package-on-package and high-speed design will take place during the fourth annual VIRTUAL PCB, the industry’s only virtual conference and trade show for the PCB design, fabrication and assembly markets. The two-day worldwide event takes place March 8-9, 2011.

ST. LOUIS – Bell Helicopter awarded EMS provider LaBarge $3.8 million to continue to produce electronic assemblies for the H-1 Upgrade Program for helicopters used by the US Marine Corps.

ALEXANDRIA, VA – The US Patent and Trademark office has granted Wemtec a patent for a “circuit and method for suppression of electromagnetic coupling and switching noise in multilayer printed circuit boards.”

William E. McKinzie III and Shawn D. Rogers of Maryland developed the apparatus that suppresses noise and electromagnetic coupling in the printed circuit board of an electronic device. It “includes an upper conductive plate and an array of conductive coplanar patches positioned a distance t.sub.2 from the upper conductive plate. The distance t.sub.2 is chosen to optimize capacitance between the conductive coplanar patches and the upper conductive plate for suppression of noise or electromagnetic coupling. 

The apparatus further includes a lower conductive plate a distance t.sub.1 from the array of conductive coplanar patches and conductive rods extending from respective patches to the lower conductive plate.”

VELLINGE, SWEDEN -- Top 40 EMS firm PartnerTech reported a fourth-quarter net profit of SEK 8.8 million ($1.37 million), up from a loss of SEK 4.7 million last year.

SMYRNA, GA – UP Media Group today announced several electronics industry experts will moderate must-see chats during the fourth annual VIRTUAL PCB, the industry’s only virtual conference and trade show for the printed circuit board design, fabrication and assembly markets. The two-day worldwide event takes place March 8-9, 2011.

On March 8 at 12:00 PM EST, Werner Engelmaier, known industry-wide as “Mr. Reliability,” will moderate “PCB Solderability and Reliability.” Engelmaier, founder of Engelmaier Associates, has authored nearly 200 technical publications, and has coauthored most of the electronics industry’s reliability and performance specifications. He received the Distinguished Technical Staff Award from Bell Telephone Laboratories, and is an IMAPS Fellow.

On March 9, process expert Bob Willis will moderate a chat on “PCB Process Defects.”

Other topics over the two days include SPI and AOI, assembly cleaning, PCB placement and design reuse CAD-CAM techniques, tin whiskers, cleaning and ECAD data sharing, among others.

New this year, VIRTUAL PCB will host several chats during Asia and Europe business hours.

Each chat lasts 30 minutes and is open to all VIRTUAL PCB registrants.

Features of the upcoming virtual event will include custom exhibit booths, live attendee-attendee and attendee-exhibitor communication, live and on-demand equipment demonstrations, real-time technical presentations, open “chats” moderated by industry experts, and much more.

A fully interactive, Web-based event, VIRTUAL PCB (virtual-pcb.com) incorporates all the critical features of a live event, while allowing PCB design, fabrication and assembly equipment and materials buyers and sellers to interact online. VIRTUAL PCB is supported by a proven software platform (provided by INXPO), and will be accessible on-demand for one month beyond the free two-day live event.

For more information about VIRTUAL PCB, visit www.virtual-pcb.com or contact Alyson Skarbek, show manager, at 404-665-7749 or askarbek@upmediagroup.com.

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The SMTA is soliciting applications from full-time graduate-level students pursuing a degree and working on thesis research in electronic assembly, electronics packaging, or a related field, for the Charles Hutchins Educational Grant. 

Cosponsored by the SMTA and CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY magazine, the Hutchins Grant was established in memory of past SMTA president Dr. Charles Hutchins. The $5000 grant has been presented annually since 1998.

All required materials are due Apr. 18. The grant will be presented at the SMTA Annual Meeting held in conjunction with SMTA International in Fort Worth, TX, Oct. 16-20.

For more information and to complete an application, visit http://www.smta.org/hutchins/student_app.cfm.

BOSTON – Bain Capital is considering selling electronics connector maker FCI and has enlisted outside bankers to advise on possible deals, according to published reports.