SHENZHEN – Kasion Automation Ltd. on Sept. 28 celebrated its 15th year in China.

More than 150 people were present, including all employees of Kasion from offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Shenzhen and the company’s Hong Kong headquarters; its subsidiary colleagues; customers Artesyn (Emerson), Celestica, Chung Nam, Computime, Elcoteq, Flextronics, Hasee, Hip Fung, Honeywell, Huawei, Konka, Refined Industry, Sangfei, Vtech, Zastron, and manufacturing suppliers, including Assembleon, BTU, BPM, CASIO, PVA and VJ Electronix.

Abby Tsoi, director of Kasion, kicked off the celebration with a welcome speech and presentation of the Long Service Awards, Excellent Performance Awards and Outstanding Performance Awards for employees.

Stephen Wu, area manager of North China, received awards for 15 years of service and sales performance. Kelvin Sze earned award for sales, and Rebecca Tse received a performance award, in addition to their service gold medals.

More than 20 employees were presented with service and performance awards, while Kasion’s customers and principal manufacturing suppliers received the Excellent Partnership Awards, presented by GM SK Chiu.

Kasion has grown more than 10 times since it was established.

 

SANTA CLARA, CA – The Electronics Supply Chain Association announced Jim Miller of Cisco Systems has been added as a keynote presenter for the 11th Annual Electronics Supply Chain Association Conference, Oct. 29-31, in Santa Clara.

Miller, vice president, product operations, will present Value Creation throughout the Product Lifecycle.

In addition, Paul R. Brody, partner, IBM Global Business Services and Global Lead, Electronics Industry Strategy Practice, will present the opening keynote on Optimization through Collaboration: Going it Alone is No Longer an Option, and Beth McKone, vice president of worldwide program management and supply chain solutions for Solectron Corporation, will present Supply Chain Orchestration – Changing the Game by Changing the Rules. 

For more information, visit www.electronicssupplychain.org.

SHENZHEN – Endicott Interconnect Technologies has signed a lease to supply fully assembled boards via a 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Shenzhen. The lease currently covers space for one line, company sources say.
 
“Once volume production ramps for many boards, it can occur at EI Shenzhen, which offers both a volume production site and lower cost manufacturing,” said Stephen Howland, product manager of EI complex assembly operations.
 
EI Shenzhen can provide high-density hybrid PCB assemblies – double-sided complex boards with mixed technologies and an average component count of > 1500 – in sizes as large as 8" x 24" for SMT or non-SMT backplanes, the company reports.
 
Assembly technologies include SMT, press fit, wave solder, selective PTH solder, and hand assembly and solder. Components that can be placed on-board include high I/O area array modules (BGA/CGA down to 0.03" pitch, and PBGA), fine pitch leaded parts, and SMT discretes and chips down to 0402 size, as well as high-density, high-I/O connectors. Complete mechanicals – cage, chassis and system assemblies – can be provided, EI says.
 
Products for which the Shenzhen facility can provide production include motherboards for servers and communication applications, as well as controller boards for various medical and IT applications.

WILSONVILLE, OR – Mentor Graphics Corp. chairman and CEO Dr. Wally Rhines will keynote the International System-on-Chip Design Conference in Seoul later this month.
 
Dr. Rhines’s talk will focus on changing the design rules, the company announced.
 
The conference runs Oct. 15-16.
 
For more information, visit http://www.isocc.org/.

 
 
 
 

TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September for the eighth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 71st consecutive month, reports ISM.
 
Manufacturing grew at a slower rate in September, as the PMI registered 52%, down 0.9 points from August, says ISM. New orders registered 53.4%, down 1.9 points sequentially. Production dipped to 54.6%, 1.5 points lower. Manufacturers’ inventories registered 41.6%, a decrease of 3.8 points. Customers’ inventories were 50%, up 1 point. Backlogs reached 51%, 0.5 points higher sequentially, the firm reports.
 

SCHAUMBURG, IL – From one came three. But more was less, and after the first few bars of the Chicago trade show musical chairs, many folks were singing the blues.

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SANTA CLARA, CA  – Valor will present its 5DX setup software solution at Agilent’s California Board Test User Group meeting Oct. 11.

The event will take place at Agilent’s facility in Santa Clara, CA.

Agilent’s 5DX platform is an x-ray inspection solution for printed circuit assemblies.

 

ORLANDO – Powell-Mucha Consulting Inc. will present a tutorial on Identifying EMS Market Trends: Learn to Predict the Future and Help Your Company Lead the Pack at SMTAI in Orlando next Monday.

The tutorial will look at ways to create a forward-looking planning environment. “This tutorial focuses on identifying cyclical industry patterns and developing a planning process that extrapolates likely results of current trends,” said company president and presenter Susan Mucha.

The tutorial covers typical cycles that repeat in the EMS industry; key events likely to trigger changes in demand; useful strategic planning tools, and creating business models that can readily adapt to changing markets.

For more information, visit http://www.smta.org/smtai/tutorials.cfm.

In addition, Powell-Mucha Consulting and Circuits Assembly have organized a contract manufacturing symposium scheduled for Oct. 9. The symposium features six speakers in two sessions titled Cutting Costs in the EMS Supply Chain and Optimizing EMS Service Delivery.

For more information, visit http://www.smta.org/smtai/symposium.cfm.

WASHINGTON – Responding to the growing shortage of engineers, Congressman Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO) in September introduced the Strategic Technology/Engineering Program (STEP) Act of 2007 – “GI Bill style” legislation that provides incentives for young people entering the engineering profession.

The bill, H.R. 3634, creates new scholarships and loan forgiveness for engineering students working toward their P.E. license.

“Our nation needs to make much more efficient use of the available resources by recruiting students from our best and brightest high school graduates and encourage them to go on to college to become our next generation of engineers,” Cleaver said in a statement. “This legislation will help support engineering students as they complete an education for an industry that will always be in demand.”

The number of U.S. engineering graduates has steadily declined in the last two decades, according to the National Science Foundation. In addition, over 25% of the science and engineering workforce is older than 50 and expected to retire over the next 15 years.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Because of explosive growth in consumer demand for LCD digital TVs, semiconductors used in such TV sets are expected to boom, with global revenue set to nearly quadruple from 2006 to 2011, iSuppli Corp. predicts.
 
The worldwide market for semiconductors used in LCD TVs is expected to rise to $7.4 billion in 2011, up about 73% from 2006. By 2011, LCD TV chips will account for 84.2% of total DTV chip revenue, up from 54.3% in 2006, according to the firm.
 
Chip shipments for LCD TVs will rise to 178 million units in 2011, up about 46% from 2006. LCD TV chips will account for 77.4% of the DTV semiconductor shipments in 2011, up from 55.5% in 2006, says iSuppli.
 
These numbers account for all the chips on DTVs’ and LCD TVs’ A/V boards, which include display processors, input/output chips, audio, memory, and other devices.
 
In contrast, the overall global DTV chip market, which is comprised of LCD TVs, plasma sets, CRTs and rear-projection televisions, is expected to rise at a slower rate, increasing to 230 million units by 2011, up about 66% from 2006, reports iSuppli.
 
This forecast indicates that the LCD TV segment has become the driving force behind the global DTV semiconductor business, propelling revenue growth and generating the most attractive opportunities for television chip suppliers, the company says.
 
The rise of DTV and LCD TV is being driven by multiple factors, including the migration to digital sources for television content and mandated digital broadcasts in most of the world’s countries during the next 10 years. Other factors include the emergence of new displays with attractive form factors, like LCDs and plasma sets, and – most important – because of the rapidly falling prices of large-sized flat-panel TVs. In 2008, flat-panel TVs will account for more than 50% of the total global television market, says iSuppli.
 
Semiconductor revenue for A/V boards used in DTV sets will grow to $8.8 billion in 2011, rising at a CAGR of 19.4% from 2006. This growth in revenue will occur despite the continuous drops in average selling prices for semiconductors used in DTVs. However, the price decline will be tempered by the continuing trend to integrate more functions into DTV display processors, the firm concludes.

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