Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

ROME, NY -- The Electrostatic Discharge Association has revised its standard for designing, implementing and maintaining an ESD control program. ANSI/ESD S20.20-2007 covers the protection of electrical or electronic parts, assemblies and equipment susceptible to ESD damage from human discharges of 100V or more. and is available for download at www.esda.org.

EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Video surveillance is expanding rapidly because of a rise in security needs and technological innovations, according to iSuppli. Global video surveillance camera revenue is forecast to grow to more than $9 billion by 2011, a CAGR of 13.2%, from $4.9 billion in 2006. Meanwhile, video surveillance unit shipments will more than double to 65.7 million units in 2011, a CAGR of 17.1% from 29.8 million units last year.

“With the emergence of networked IP video surveillance cameras and IP video servers—along with the rising use of DVRs — video surveillance is moving beyond traditional security and into new applications such as transportation, retail, government and even home networking,” said Mark Kirstein, vice president of multimedia content and services at iSuppli. “This expansion is being helped considerably by the idea of networked video surveillance … Because of this, IP cameras will experience continued growth in surveillance, displacing existing closed circuit TV cameras with modern technology that can be networked into larger security systems,” Kirstein added.

Telecom operators are expected to offer IP video surveillance as a value-added consumer broadband service, says iSuppli. The firm predicts 2011 will be the first year that IP cameras overtake CCTV cameras as the dominant equipment in video surveillance.

iSuppli projects the market for surveillance-camera semiconductors will hit $1.25 billion in 2011, more than double the $525 million in 2006. A major shift in semiconductor revenue likely will be propelled by a trend to IP cameras, the company believes. Sales of video processor and interface chips, such as Ethernet, Power over Ethernet and Wi-Fi will grow dramatically. However, spending on image sensors are predicted to fall off based on relentless price declines and accelerated adoption of less-expensive CMOS image sensors.

SAN JOSE – Worldwide sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment totaled $40.47 billion in 2006, a 23% year-over-year increase, SEMI reported today.

"The worldwide semiconductor equipment industry resumed strong growth in 2006 as the robust memory chip market and continued transition to 300mm wafers fueled sales of manufacturing technology," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI.

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. has received additional orders totaling $4.4 million from Modular Mining Systems for electronic assemblies used in mine information management systems. The company expects to receive follow-on orders.

SUNNYVALE, CA -- Palm Inc. might be a takeover target, with speculation high that the firm could be bought by private equity firms or even Motorola.

The maker of handheld computers could fetch a price as high as $2 billion, according to several reports.

SIEVI, FINLAND -- Scanfil PLC, the second largest EMS group in the Nordic region, today announced manufacturing operations at its Oulu plant will end this summer while those at its Äänekoski plant will be transferred to other units by end of September. A total of 95 workers will be laid off.

Scanfil's EMS operations had 2006 sales of about 240 million euros.

BALVE, GERMANY – Solder material suppliers Balver Zinn and Cobar Group have signed an agreement to merge, a deal that would result in annual company sales of over $50 million. The deal is expected to close during the second quarter. No financial terms were disclosed.

ATLANTA – UP Media Group Inc. has extended the Call for Abstracts deadline for PCB Design Conference East 2007 to April 17. The annual conference and exhibition will be held on October 21-26, 2007, just outside Research Triangle Park, NC.

PCB East is the premier, annual East Coast conference and exhibition for emerging technologies used in the design and manufacture of PCBs, PLDs, MCMs, HDI, flexible circuits and related technologies. This event is sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly.

The five-day conference focuses on printed circuit board design, engineering and manufacturing. It is comprised of a three-day Technical Conference and a Professional Development Certificate program of one-day and two-day courses.

PCB East 2007 also includes a two-day exhibition (Oct. 23-24) of top industry vendors of products and services for electronic design automation (EDA), engineering/design services, prototyping, fabrication, assembly, etc.

Papers and presentations of the following durations are sought for the Technical Conference: 30-minute paper sessions, one-hour lectures or panel sessions, two-hour workshops, and half-day (3.5 hour) seminars. Papers and presentations also are sought for a Professional Development Certificate program of in-depth, one-day and two-day technical tutorials.

For consideration, e-mail your course title(s), suggested course length(s), 100- to 300-word course abstract(s), "who should attend" recommendation(s), and speaker bio(s) to Conference Co-Chair Kathy Nargi-Toth (knargitoth at upmediagroup.com) and Show Manager Alyson Skarbek (askarbek at upmediagroup.com) by April 17.

Papers and presentations must be noncommercial in nature and should focus on technology, techniques or methodology rather than on a company’s specific products.

Suggested paper and presentation topics include (but are not limited to):

- High speed, high frequency and signal integrity

- Component placement

- EMI/EMC analysis

- Thermal analysis

- Lead-free processes (especially how they affect design and fabrication)

- RF and microwave design

- Packaging design

- Mixed-signal design

- Area arrays

- FPGA design and implementation

- Embedded passives and active devices

- Flexible circuitry

- HDI design and technologies

- PCB design/layout basics

- Component library creation and management

- Design for manufacture, test and assembly

- Design (including analog, digital and power supplies)

- PCB fabrication

- Soldering

- Surface finishes

- Industry forecasts

- Business and design/supply chain issues

Selected papers and presentations will be due in August for inclusion in the proceedings. All Technical Conference papers and presentations are published in the conference proceedings and distributed to conference attendees, exhibitors and speakers. (Submissions selected for the Professional Development Certificate program are not included in the proceedings.)

Each speaker/presenter will receive a copy of the technical conference proceedings CD-ROM, a complimentary pass for the three-day technical conference, and complimentary admission to the two-day exhibition, and other special events.

For more information visit www.pcbeast.com.

TORONTO – Electronics manufacturing services provider SMTC Corp. announced fourth quarter earnings rose 49% to $2.1 million on a 31% spike in revenue to $76.1 million.

For the quarter ended Dec. 31, gross profit was $7.7 million, or 10.1% of revenue, up from $4.9 million (8.4% of revenue).

Full-year revenue rose 15% to $262.8 million, while the company set a net income record of $10.5 million, including one-time items of $5 million, compared with a loss of $100,000 for 2005.

“For the first time since 2000, the company grew year-over-year revenue, reflecting a combination of growth from long-standing customers and the effect of new customer additions in 2005 and 2006,” said John Caldwell, president and chief executive. "As important, SMTC produced seven consecutive quarters of profitability culminating in record net income for 2006."

The full year net income included an income tax refund, gain on a sale of surplus real estate, final proceeds from operations discontinued in 2002 and a net adjustment to restructuring accruals.

SAN JOSE – North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted $1.65 billion in orders in February, the trade group SEMI said. The three-month average orders fell 1% from January, but were up 28% year-over-year.

The February book-to-bill ratio was 1.05, meaning that $105 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. It was the fifth straight month the ratio rose.

ESPOO, FINLAND – PCB maker Aspocomp Group will buy the minority stake in its ACP Electronics Ltd. joint venture from Taiwanese partner Chin-Poon Holdings, the company said today.

Aspocomp will spend 37.8 million euros to purchase the 49% minority interest in the Suzhou, China-based company. The deal is expected to be finalized in March.

Aspocomp Group Oyj owns 51% of ACP Electronics, and the JV’s net sales and results have been consolidated into Aspocomp's figures since 2001.

Aspocomp expects the acquisition will be accretive to the company’s result. Last year, Aspocomp reported net sales of 149 million euros. It was the 57th largest PCB fabricator in 2005, according to Dr. Hayao Nakahara of NT Information.

IRVING, TX – Top tier EMS firm Elcoteq has won a multi-year contract to build base stations and other products for Redline Communications. Other terms were not disclosed.

Under the deal, Elcoteq will be the primary EMS provider of manufacturing and NPI services for Redline’s RedMAX family of base stations and devices and its RedCONNEX backhaul products.

Elcoteq will provide low- to medium-volume production, full system integration, warranty repair and order fulfillment. NPI and manufacturing services will be handled through Elcoteq’s facilities in Dallas and Juárez, Mexico.