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News

VANCOUVER – EMS provider Creation Technologies has acquired Lexington, KY-based SMC Inc. No financial details were disclosed. However, Creation had received $65 million in equity funding in June from Burch Hill Equity Partners.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Jabil Circuit Inc. today sold the switching power supply business of its Celetronix Power India Private Ltd. subsidiary to Red Rocket Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The deal includes Celetronix's capital stock, product design and manufacturing operations in Mumbai, India, products and IP. The unit's 105 employees and 550 contract personnel were also included.

Red Rocket also bought the EOS brand of power supply products and related technology.

ELKHART, IN -- CTS Corp. today announced second-quarter revenues of $169.6 million and net earnings of $5.9 million. The company, which also makes components, was boosted by strength for its EMS services.

WASHINGTON -- The Electronic Industries Alliance's board of directors has approved a plan that would split the assets of the trade goup coalition across five distinct organizations.

Under the plan, EIA will distribute its assets equally among its four current member associations -- The Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA); the Government Electronics and Information Technology Association (GEIA); the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association (JEDEC); and the Telecommunications Industry Association -- and the Consumer Electronics Association, a former member of EIA.

SUNNYVALE, CA – A new “reverse order” interconnection method describes a way to produce a finished electronics assembly with neither solder nor a circuit board.

The method, tentatively called the “Occam Process,” is a way to build an electronics assembly using mature core processing technologies in a novel sequence. What’s more, says the inventor, the end-product is expected to be more reliable than previous solder-free strategies (e.g., using conductive adhesive as a solder substitute) or traditionally manufactured soldered assemblies.

YANTAI, CHINA – Henkel is continuing to expand in the solder sphere market, recently opening its second major production hub. The 4,100 sq. meter plant will manufacture solder spheres and Type 1 through Type 7 solder powders for semiconductor packaging and printed circuit board assembly.

MACAO -- Top 15 EMS provider Nam Tai Electronics today reported second-quarter net income rose 110% to $38.8 million despite a 7.4% drop in sales.

For the period ended June 30, the company reported revenues of $197.8 million, down from $213.7 million a year ago. Gross margins were up nearly two points to 11.5%.

CHENNAI, INDIA – The EMS Alliance, a group of multinational electronics manufacturing firms, said the size of India's electronics industry is currently at $25 billion and thinks it will grow 36% in the next two years.

It also forecasts its member revenues from India to rise to $2 billion, a 39% increase in just two years.

The consortium is planning a major manufacturing base in India to focus on the local electronics market.

According to the government, consumer electronic production for 2006 through 2007 was almost $5 billion, a growth rate of about 10% year-over-year, with CE accounting for 35% of total electronics hardware production.

WEST BRIDGEWATER, MA – Sunburst EMS is building NeuroMetrix's latest neurodiagnostic instrumentation equipment, the company said today. Sunburst has established a dedicated space within its plant for the Neurometrix product, a standalone, vertically-integrated work cell for board-level functional test, sub-unit functional test, systems test, and final customer packaging.

Sunburst has built NeuroMetrix’s NC Stat System since September 2005.

BANNOCKBURN, IL -- Rigid PCB shipments among North American fabricators fell 10.7% and bookings dropped 9.8% percent in June, IPC said today.

However, rigid shipments were up 12.3% and bookings rose 20.8% sequentially. The book-to-bill ratio for the rigid PCB industry in June 2007 climbed back up above parity to 1.01.

Flex circuit shipments fell 14.1% and bookings nosedived 37.8% versus last year. Shipments were up 4.5% over May, but bookings dropped 3.4%. The flex circuit book-to-bill ratio was positive at 1.12.

The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from the companies in IPC’s survey sample. A book-to-bill ratio above 1.0 is considered a sign of future growth.

About 16% of the reported value was comprised of boards made offshore and distributed by North American fabricators.

For the year, combined (rigid and flex) shipments are down 10.4% and bookings are down 14.9%. Rigid shipments are down 10.9% and bookings are down 16.3%. Flex shipments are down 2.3% and bookings are up 7.3%.

Shipments of all board types dropped 11% in June and orders fell 12.2%. The combined book-to-bill was 1.01.

JUAREZ, MEXICO -- Viasystems Inc. will expand its operations here, adding sheet metal fabrication capabilities to its backplane assembly and integration capabilities.

The company didn't disclose the amount of the investment, but said it will be made over a two-year period.

SAN JOSE – Flextronics reported fiscal first-quarter sales rose 27% to $5.16 billion, at the high end of analyst estimates. Net income was $107 million, up 27% from a year ago.

Operating margins were 2.5%. Inventory days fell five days sequentially to 47 days.