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FREMONT, CA -- Alta Manufacturing has acquired fellow electronics contract manufacturer NRC Manufacturing for an undisclosed sum.

TEMPE, AZ — Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in May for the 10th consecutive month, says the Institute for Supply Management. The PMI for May was 59.7%, a drop of 70 basis points.

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

New orders were flat at 65.7%, and production was down 30 basis points to 66.6%. Inventories dropped 3.8 percentage points to 45.6%, while customer inventories dropped 1 percentage point to 32%. Backlogs were up 2 percentage points to 59.5%.

“The manufacturing sector grew for the 10th consecutive month during May. The rate of growth as indicated by the PMI is driven by continued strength in new orders and production. Employment continues to grow, as manufacturers have added to payrolls for six consecutive months. The recovery continues to broaden, as 16 of 18 industries report growth. There are a number of reports, particularly in the tech sector, of shortages of components; this is the result of excessive inventory de-stocking during the downturn,” said ISM spokesperson Norbert J. Ore.

The overall economy grew for the 13th consecutive month.

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, UK – The Smart Group will hold a two-day technical conference Oct. 6 and 7 at the Oxfordshire GC Business Centre.

The event addresses the supply chain, informs about the latest research projects, and explores whether manufacturing standards improve the industry.

Other topics include production control, chemistry, what’s happening with RoHS and REACH, cleaning, tin whiskers and component tinning practices.

The full program and a list of exhibitors will be announced soon.

The conference is timed with the organization’s 26th anniversary.

KYOTO, JAPAN – Europe will play host next week to its first public Jisso European Council Seminar.

The event will provide the latest news from the JISSO meeting in Kyoto in May, as well as details about the new IEC standard development work for PCB with embedded components.

Jisso is a Japanese term for cooperation and refers to a loosely knit organization in Japan 12 years ago for electronics designers and packaging experts.

Aimed at electronics designers and process engineers, the session will offer details on chip design, packaging, PWB and PCB assembly and end-product, to aid understanding of design and manufacturing options.

Details are available at www.eipc.org.

WEYMOUTH, UK – The Alternative Energy Manufacturing Technologies seminar will take place June 15 at DEK here.

The event is a response to recent government funding initiatives, says organizer Smart Group.

Seminar topics include Introduction - Grabbing the Green Pound; Screen Printing Processes for Alternative Energy Technologies; Why Surface Mount Technologies Are Important in Commercializing Fuel-Cell and Micro-CHP Applications; Photovoltaic Technologies - An Overview; Performance Based Monitoring - A Strategic Imperative, and Screens for Alternative Energy Sectors - the Challenges.

The event will include a tour of DEK’s facilities with an onsite demonstration of printing solar photovoltaic cell wafers.

LOS ALTOS, CA – US medical electronics production slowed to 4.8% growth in 2009, down from 7% the year before, a leading analyst said.

ENDICOTT, NY -- EMS firm Catalyst Manufacturing Services has completed upgrades to its manufacturing facility here, including new flooring and layout.

BRUSSELS – European Parliament member and RoHS rapporteur Jill Evans announced plans to drop amendments calling for a ban of all brominated flame retardants, including those such as tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA), that have been found safe under European Union risk assessment.

TAIPEI -- As it attempts to counter angry public sentiment, Hon Hai (Foxconn) will raise workers' salaries by about 20% in China, according to several published reports.

KREUZWERTHEIM, GERMANY – Seho Systems has introduced the Seho Academy, developed to help train employees in the operation of soldering systems.

Seminars are subdivided into reflow, selective and wave. Each category offers basic training courses on maintenance of soldering systems and optimization of processes and workflow.

Customers can select one or several training blocks from the existing courses to best suit individual needs.

Training courses can take place at the customer’s site or at Seho’s headquarters here.

For more information, visit www.seho.de.

WASHINGTON -- An International Trade Commission panel tasked with resolving a two-year patent battle pitting Rambus against Nvidia and several other big-name tech companies will delay ruling for two more months.