Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

ALPHARETTA, GA – Exerra Inc. has appointed four manufacturing representatives in North America for eP30 series printers.

B. R. Peterson and Assoc. represents Exerra products in Wisconsin and Illinois.

Electronic Assembly Products covers Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

Southwest Systems Technology represents Exerra throughout Texas and Mexico.

Techsystems Intl. covers Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego County and Tijuana.

Exerra offers the eP30 series of inline printers and the eP20 series of standalone printers.

AUSTIN, TX – Twenty-three percent of the 20.1 million LCD TV units shipped in the third quarter were made by contractors such as TPV, Jabil, AmTRAN, Quanta, Proview, Vestel and Wistron, says the latest report by research firm DisplaySearch.

Many LCD TV OEMs – including Grundig, HP, Polaroid, Vizio, ViewSonic and Westinghouse – outsourced 100% of their manufacturing.

Philips outsourced more than 60% of its LCD TVs shipped in the quarter. Some intend to increase their outsourcing share for certain regions and products as the market expands, while other brands intend to bring more volume in-house as they expand into new regions, according to DisplaySearch.

More than two million LCD monitor panels shipped in the third quarter were used for LCD TVs, a significant leap from 900,000 in the prior quarter.

LCD TVs under 26" will increasingly use LCD monitor panels, says the firm.

Some 23.7 million LCD TV modules were shipped from TFT LCD makers, while LCD TV manufacturers shipped 20.1 million units, the report adds. These variances reportedly were a result of supply chain, assembly lead-time, buffer stocks and channel inventory.

TPV led the TV set subcontract manufacturing market with a 19.9% share, followed by Proview, Jabil and AmTRAN.

The main customer for TPV is Philips, and the main customer for AmTRAN is Vizio; the main customer of Proview is Polaroid, and the main customer of Jabil is Philips, says DisplaySearch.

Philips was the top customer of LG.Philips LCD; Samsung LCD TV was the top customer of CMO and CPT. Sony was the top customer of AUO and Samsung (including S-LCD).

In addition, each of the top-five suppliers looked to their top-five customers for at least 50% of their volume, with the exception of CMO, concludes the report.

ARLINGTON, VA – Electronic component orders dipped slightly in November for the second month in a row, according to the Electronic Components Association. The 12-month average, which compares order growth to the previous year, was level.

SAN JOSE – Gartner Inc. lowered its 2007 semiconductor forecast to 2.9%, down from 3.9%.

The research firm also tempered its estimates for 2008, saying growth will hit 6.2%, versus earlier predictions of 8.2%. However, Gartner raised its 2009 forecast to 8.5% growth, up from 6.1%.

ATLANTA – UP Media Group, parent company of Circuits Assembly and Printed Circuit Design & Fab, announced today that support for Virtual PCB, the industry's first virtual trade show and conference for the PCB design, fabrication and assembly markets, continues to grow, as leading industry suppliers sign on to exhibit at the Feb. 12-13 event.

SAN JOSE –Flextronics sees weaknesses in the industrial, automotive and telecommunications sectors, but consumer electronics remains strong, chief executive Michael McNamara says.

“We are not seeing any slowdown in mobile phones or consumer electronics ... things you think might be affected by a recession,” McNamara said in published remarks.

According to McNamara, the weaknesses are "minor"; he expects the company's business segments to post double-digit growth next year, according to published reports.

MINNEAPOLIS – HEI Inc. has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to voluntarily deregister its common stock.

The EMS company is eligible to deregister because it has fewer than 300 shareholders.

HEI expects deregistration to take effect after 90 days, if the SEC approves the company's application. As a result, HEI's obligation to file certain reports and forms with the SEC, including Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, will be immediately suspended.

The company believes the administrative and other economies and savings associated with de-registration are in the best interest of its shareholders. In addition, HEI says it would not be able to maintain NASDAQ listing for multiple reasons.

“HEI believes that deregistering is in the best interest of increasing long-term stockholder value. This action should result in accounting, legal and administrative expense reductions and allow HEI management to focus its attention, efforts and resources on HEI's operations and revenue growth," CEO Mark Thomas said.

HEI’s securities will no longer be eligible for quotation on NASDAQ; however, the company's securities may be eligible for quotation on the Pink Sheets by broker-dealers.

HEI designs, develops and manufactures microelectronics, subsystems, systems, connectivity and software solutions for OEMs engaged for the medical equipment and medical device, hearing, communications, and industrial markets.

TEMPE, AZ – New orders for manufactured goods were up slightly in November, and production grew 2.3 points to 51.9%. The new orders index stood at 52.6%, above the 50% threshold, signaling expansion, the ISM trade group reported Tuesday.

NAMPA, ID – PC vendor MPC Corp. has signed a services agreement with Flextronics Computing, a segment of EMS provider Flextronics.

Under the terms of the agreement, Flextronics Computing will provide MPC with supply chain consulting services and materials procurement services for its U.S.-based PC business. Financial terms were not disclosed.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Global shipments of LCD TVs are expected to hit a record level in the fourth quarter, a mark that won’t be matched until the third quarter next year, says iSuppli Corp. This would mark the end of sequential quarterly unit shipment growth for LCD-TVs, a period of historic expansion for the market that has lasted since 2005.

LCD-TV shipments are expected to reach the 25.1 million-unit mark in the fourth quarter—the product’s largest quarterly unit volume to date, according to iSuppli.

However, in the first quarter of 2008, LCD-TV unit shipments will decline to 19.5 million units. “The slower first-quarter shipments are the result of seasonal factors,” said Riddhi Patel, principal analyst for television systems for iSuppli. “But LCD-TV shipments in the second quarter of 2008 will amount to only 21.9 million units, still down from the peak level in the fourth quarter of 2007. But once the third quarter comes around, LCD-TV unit shipments will reach a new quarterly high.”

Further proof of the slowdown can be found in the quarterly compounded growth rates for 2007 and 2008. The compounded quarter-to-quarter growth for LCD-TV shipments for the period of 2007 through 2008 is expected to be 11.5%, says iSuppli. In comparison, quarterly compounded growth in 2005 through 2006 was 22.7%.

While this represents a significant slowdown compared to previous years, LCD-TV shipments will continue to grow at an impressive rate during the long term, according to the research firm.

The CAGR for LCD-TVs for the period of 2006 through 2011 will amount to 31.9%. The global LCD-TV market will hit 165.3 million units in 2011, up from 41.4 million in 2006. Overall LCD-TV shipments in 2008 will amount to 98.5 million units, up from 75.7 million units in 2007.

So, despite a slower growth in the first half of 2008, overall growth will be significant.

Revenue in the global LCD-TV market will reach $116.2 billion in 2011, a 19.4% CAGR from 2006, says iSuppli.

MINNEAPOLIS – EMS provider HEI Inc. announced 2007 net sales fell 22% year-over-year to $38.38 million.

Net sales for microelectronic operations were $22.7 million, a decrease of 27% compared to 2006. Sales for AMO operations were $15.7 million, a decrease of 12%.

Microelectronics was hit by lower demand for legacy business resulting from a series of consolidations in the telecommunications industry, offshore outsourcing by a medical products customer, and a reduction in flexible substrate sales to the company’s primary external customer, who reduced orders to consume excess inventories, reports HEI.

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales was 4%, compared to 16% in 2006. The reduction was a result of lower sales volumes, which did not contribute as much to cover fixed operating costs. In addition, the decline in gross margin in the current fiscal year compared to the prior was a result of a lower volume of higher margin design, development, verification, and validation contracts at the AMO segment, says the company.

MADISON, WI – State Senator Mark Miller will introduce legislation that would set up an electronics waste recycling program in Wisconsin, according to published reports.