Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

Latest News

WASHINGTON -- Starting yesterday, certain electronics products intended for children will be exempted from the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act lead limit.

Under the CPSIA, the lead content in electronics products intended for children is required to be no greater than 600 parts per million. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued an interim rule because the Jan. 15 proposed rules would have been finalized after the Feb. 10 CPSIA compliance deadline.

The CPSC’s interim rule and the Jan. 15 proposed rules clarify that lead contained within electronics parts is inaccessible to children. The CPSC is recognizing that lead in a component part of electronics devices is not accessible to children because the lead is fully enclosed within a component that is itself within the device. Additionally, the CPSC has also exempted the lead content in electronics because it is currently not technologically feasible for certain parts of electronic devices to comply with the CPSIA lead limits of 600 ppm.

The Jan. 15 proposed rules are expected to become a final rule near the end of February 2009. For more information on CPSC regulations and guidance, visit http://www.cpsc.gov/about/cpsia/cpsia.html.

DANDERYD, SWEDEN – Note AB reported December quarter sales dropped 9.6% to $49.4 million. The operating loss was $5.7 million, and the operating margin was -11.6%.

For the quarter, the EBIT loss after one-time items was $6 million, and the after-tax loss was $4.4 million.

For 2008, the EMS company reported sales of $203.5 million, down 1.8% from a year ago. The operating loss was $452,000, down from a profit of $13.3 million. The operating loss includes restructuring-related costs of $9.5 million during the year. The operating margin amounted to -0.2%.

For the year, the EBIT loss was $1.71 million, down from a profit of $12.4 million. For the year, the loss after one-time items was $1.6 million, and the after-tax loss was SEK $4.4 million. Cash flow from operations was $3 million.

The company is cutting its Swedish labor force by 400, or just over 50%, mostly in the first half of 2009. Worldwide, Note employs more than 1200 staff.

The company is a worldwide Top 50 EMS company, according to Circuits Assembly.

BILLINGSTAD, NORWAY -- Top 40 EMS firm Kitron reported fourth-quarter revenue of $101.5 million, up 23% from last year. The pretax profits were $7.5 million, up 280% from 2007.

WASHINGTON, DC – Intel today announced plans to spend $7 billion over the next two years to build advanced manufacturing facilities in the US. The investment funds deployment of Intel's 32nm manufacturing technology and represents Intel's largest-ever investment for a new manufacturing process.

MELVILLE, NY -- Arrow Electronics reported fourth-quarter net income fell 62% year-over-year to $43.2 million on a 7.5% drop in revenue to $4.09 billion.

Excluding the company's acquisition of Logix, revenue would have falled 12%.

The company guided for first-quarter revenue of $3 billion to $3.6 billion.

In a statement, chairman and chief executive William E. Mitchell said, "We expect the marketplace to continue to be unsettled and that visibility will remain limited most likely through 2009."

SANTA CLARA, CA – Agilent Technologies plans to exit the electronics inspection systems business by the end of March, the company announced today. The company deferred comment on the number of persons affected or potential financial charges.

HERNDON, VA – The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative is surveying the industry to gauge the current adoption rate of boundary scan and identify any impediments to widespread use.

This results will be used to help iNEMI improve test implementation and coverage for electronics products, the organization said. iNEMI encourages the global supply chain to participate in the online survey.

“We want to hear about people’s experiences with boundary scan,” said Steve Butkovich, structural test manager for Cisco and co-chair of the iNEMI Boundary Scan Adoption Project. “We’re looking for input from the people who would use boundary scan, such as PCB designers, test engineers, engineering managers or design-for-test consultants, and from IC designers who would integrate boundary scan into their products. If they use boundary scan, we want to know how well it works – or doesn’t work; and if they do not use it, we would like to know why not.

The survey is available through the end of February at inemi.org/boundary_scan_survey.

CARLSBAD, CA – Palomar Technologies has posted its best year since 2000.

“We exceeded our sales, booking and profit targets in 2008, and are carrying a strong backlog into the current year,” said Bruce W. Hueners, president and CEO.

This past summer, Palomar Management bought out the original investor group that spun the company out of Hughes Aircraft in 1995.

The firm provides automated precision microelectronics assembly equipment and contract assembly services.

JACKSON, MI – Sparton Corp. reported a second-quarter net loss of $2.8 million on sales of $54.5 million for the period ended Dec. 31. The net loss increased 50% from a year ago, while sales were down about 0.5%.

MACAO – Top 20 EMS provider Nam Tai Electronics reported fourth-quarter sales fell 9.6% to $169 million as the company fell to a net loss for the December period.

For the quarter, the net loss was $14.5 million, down from income of $9.6 million a year ago. The company took $17.9 million in charges for goodwill and layoff compensation. Gross profit fell 8.7% from 11.3% in 2007.

For the year, the company reported sales of $623 million, down 20.2% year-over-year. The net profit was down 56% to $30.6 million.

At quarter’s end, Nam Tai had $237 million in cash on hand, down from $272.5 million

Telecommunications component assembly sales – Nam Tai’s largest market – fell 11% from 2007 on slower mobile device sales and pricing pressure. LCD sales fell 27.2%, and consumer electronics were down 1.4% during the quarter.

COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY – The overall electronics systems market will decline more than 12% in 2009, the largest single-year decline ever, Prismark Partners said today.

The drop would equate to loss of more than $170 billion in revenue year-over-year.

JASPER, IN -- Kimball International today reported net sales fell 6% from a year ago to $327.6 million and income from continuing operations rose 93% to $8.2 million for its December quarter.