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LOUISVILLE, KY -- Sypris Solutions today reported fourth-quarter net income from continuing operations of $14.8 million on revenue of $66.1 million.

LONDON – Global industrial/medical electronics revenues will grow 11% to $560 billion in 2010, a research firm said today.

As the effects of the global credit crunch and recession pass, revenue growth will return to the long-term historical average of between 5% and 8% per year, according to Semicast’s preliminary findings.

The firm forecasts industrial/medical electronics revenues to grow to $850 billion in 2015.

The industrial transport sector, including construction equipment, materials handling and agricultural machinery, showed the largest revenue decline and steepest percentage fall in 2009; revenues in the industrial transport sector are forecast not to return to 2008 levels until 2012.

Similarly, factory automation revenues suffered a significant decline in 2009, although this was largely the result of a substantial fall in the value of sales of semiconductor manufacturing and test equipment, says Semicast. Revenues in the factory automation sector are forecast to return to 2008 levels next year.

Other traditional markets fared better in 2009, with the revenue loss for the test and measurement and lighting/building automation/HVAC sectors estimated at less than 3%, while revenues for chip cards and payment processing systems increased moderately.

Revenues for the medical imaging and diagnostics sector rose in 2009 and are forecast to grow steadily through 2015. Governments in many developed areas, most notably the US, Japan and the EU, continue to face social implications of a steadily aging population. As a result, ongoing government spending on national healthcare programs, particularly in areas such as increased screening, implementation of implantable electronics and greater use of tele-health services, are certain to grow, the firm said.

Renewable energy is also identified as a high growth application. Many of the most developed, and most polluting, countries have announced plans or legislation to decrease dependency on energy production using fossil fuels, with a corresponding increase in production from renewable sources such as solar (photovoltaic) and wind.

EL SEGUNDO – While the end of 2009 brought improved availability for many commodity components, supply for most parts remains tight, according to iSuppli Corp.

BANGOR, ME -- Maine Governor John Baldacci this week will sign into law the state's first extended producer responsibility framework legislation, establishing a process for creating product stewardship programs for hard-to-recycle products and packaging and moving the physical and financial responsibility for managing old products from the general taxpayer to producers and consumers.

NORTHUMBERLAND, UK – Opsol UK plans to move to a larger headquarters here as part of a £350,000 expansion.

According to published reports, the new 14,000 sq. ft. plant will create 15 jobs in Cramlington, a site in Northern England.

The contract electronics manufacturer maker received a £75,000 grant to aid in the move. Opsol also received a £40,000 grant in 2007.

SAN JOSE – North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers reported 90-day average orders of $1.23 billion in orders in February, up 4.5% sequentially.

NORTH HAMPTON, NH -- Reliability expert Bob Landman has set up a site on the Toyota sudden unintended acceleration problems.

MANKATO, MN -- Winland Electronics reported fourth-quarter net sales of $4.5 million, down 41.5% from a year ago.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — A new white paper urges EU Council and Parliament members to ensure that the revised RoHS Directive is rooted in science and fully aligned with existing REACH rules.

BOSTON -- As environmental legislation drives future electronics component design and manufacturing trends, it will become increasingly important for the defense industry to assess the total cost benefits of COTS-sourced components, an analyst said today.

ESPOO, FINLAND – Elcoteq will lay off seven staff members and temporarily lay off seven more in Finland for financial and production reasons.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The first draft of a proposed standard covering protection of IP designed into PCBs will be released next month during Apex.

The Intellectual Property Committee will release the draft during its scheduled meeting on April 6.

Members from all segments of electronics manufacturing are invited to attend to review the draft standard and provide input.

The draft, Best Industry Practices for Intellectual Property Protection, is intended to assist printed board manufacturers in the protection of IP for their customers in commercial, industrial and military/high reliability markets.

Developed as a high-level roadmap to best industry practices for printed board manufacturers, the draft IP standard addresses issues such physical and information security, employee data access, computer networks, destruction of scrap material, and more.

Also, under direction from Congress, the Department of Defense’s new executive agent for PCBs will develop a trusted source program for PCB manufacturers supplying the DoD. Similarly, many leading OEMs in the commercial sector are auditing their supply chain to ensure protection of their IP, says IPC, under whose auspices the standard is being written.