TAIPEI -- Foxconn Electronics will spend some $300 million toward acquisitions and investments in component-related businesses, according to published reports.

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA – Aqueous Technologies customers will receive a free Zero-Ion ROSE tester or ultrasonic stencil cleaner with the purchase of a Trident-CL during the month of July, the firm says.

Trident-CL is a closed-loop, zero-discharge fully automatic defluxer and cleanliness tester.

The Zero-Ion ROSE tester is designed to test electronics assemblies for ionic contamination. It automatically removes and detects contamination on an electrical assembly or bare board and provides quantitative contamination measurements.

Ultrasonic stencil cleaners use sound waves to remove unreflowed solder paste and uncured adhesives from stencils, screens and misprints. 

SAN FRANCISCO – The Solar Engineering & Manufacturing Association will hold its first general meeting here July 15.

The meeting will take place at the San Francisco Omni Hotel.

SEMA was established June 10 at Flextronics’ campus in Milpitas, CA, as an educational, technical and professional association serving the solar manufacturing and related industries.

“On the basis of a very successful first meeting, we are now inviting all stakeholders in the industry to participate and help establish SEMA as a member-driven professional organization that will help propel solar energy to the forefront. We want SEMA to be regarded as an indispensible resource for professionals around the world, including key stakeholders in research, manufacturing, academia and government,” said Matthew Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates, one of the founding members.

For further information, contact Holzmann at matt.holzmann@christopherweb.com or Dennis Willie at dennis.willie@flextronics.com.

OTTAWA – Canada’s Ministers of the Environment and of Health have determined resin and rosin acids will continue to be permitted to be used in manufacturing.

BRIDGEWATER, MA – Chase Corp. has divested its contract manufacturing services business to fellow EMS provider MC Assembly in a deal valued at $13 million.
The sale of substantially all of the assets of Chase EMS closed on June 30. The deal included all Chase EMS employees, as well as its leased facility in Winchester, MA.

TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in June for the 11th consecutive month, according to the Institute for Supply Management. The PMI registered 56.2%, a drop of 3.5 percentage points.

A reading above 50% indicates the manufacturing economy is generally expanding.

New orders for the month dipped 7.2 points to 58.5%, while production dropped 5.2 points to 61.4%. Inventories were up a slight 0.2 points to 45.8%, while customer inventories surged 6 points to 38%. Backlogs fell 2.5 points to 57%.

“The manufacturing sector continued to grow during June; however, the rate of growth, as indicated by the PMI slowed when compared to May. The lower reading for the PMI came from a slowing in the New Orders and Production Indexes. We are now 11 months into the manufacturing recovery, and given the robust nature of recent growth, it is not surprising that we would see a slower rate of growth at this time. The sector appears to be solidly entrenched in the recovery. Comments from the respondents remain generally positive, but expectations have been that the second half of the year will not be as strong in terms of the rate of growth, and June appears to validate that forecast,” said ISM spokesperson Norbert J. Ore.

The overall economy grew for the 14th consecutive month, says ISM.

RENO, NV – Paradise Manufacturing, a contract assembler based here, has closed, and the factory equipment will be sold at auction.

According to the company website, it was founded as Contract Manufacturing Services in May 1997. In 2000, founder Kit Paradis changed the name to Paradise Manufacturing Inc. (PMI).

The EMS company operated in a 12,000 sq. ft. factory in Reno.

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Association of Manufacturers unveiled a comprehensive strategy for US competitiveness. The Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America prompts political leaders to consider what it will take for manufacturers in the US to succeed in the global marketplace.

The strategy explains what is at stake for manufacturing in the US and provides a roadmap for policies that will enable manufacturing to create jobs and compete. 

It sets out the following goals: The US will be the best country in the world to headquarter a company. The NAM wants companies based in the US; the US will be the best country in the world to innovate, performing the bulk of a company’s global research and development, and the US will be a great place to manufacture, both to meet the needs of the American market and serve as an export platform for the world.

The NAM urges manufacturers to call on members of Congress, candidates for office and opinion leaders to join in supporting and publicly endorsing the strategy; advocates for manufacturing should seek to implement the strategy, the association says. 

The Manufacturing Strategy for Jobs and a Competitive America is the first phase of the NAM’s campaign. In the coming weeks, the NAM will announce the creation of manufacturing councils at the state and district levels. These councils will be a platform to educate candidates, policymakers, employees and the general public about how to keep manufacturing competitive.

MENLO PARK, CA -- Product cost is fast receding as the most important factor in the OEM-EMS relationship, asserts a recent survey of electronics OEMs.

BUCKS, UK – Smart Group is offering a range of smart-e-webinars to complement its existing training, workshop and seminar program.

Webinars will be presented by professional engineers, with each session lasting 60 to 90 minutes.

The inaugural smart-e-webinar will be presented July 29 by Peter Grundy and Bob Willis, Smart Group Technical Committee members. It will cover the firm’s four EU funded projects: ship inspectors, TestPep, µBGA spheres, and chip check.

Future webinars will cover component technology; printed circuit board manufacture; stencil printing; reflow soldering; wave soldering; hand soldering and desoldering; cleaning, conformal coating; solder joint and design reliability, and the introduction and manufacture using alternative energy.

Each student will receive a certificate of participation.

To suggest topics or present a webinar, contact technical@smartgroup.org. 

For more information, visit www.smartgroup.org/diary. 

ARLINGTON, VA — Consumer confidence in consumer electronics moved up sharply in June as confidence in the overall economy dropped to its lowest point since July 2008, according to the latest figures released today from the Consumer Electronics Association and CNET.

PITTSBURGH — The National Labor Committee is releasing a 30-page report documenting what it calls illegal and harsh sweatshop conditions at Jabil Circuit's factory in Guangzhou, China, where over 6,000 workers — many of them allegedly illegal temporary workers — manufacture products for HP, Whirlpool, IBM, Intel and Cisco.