EL SEGUNDO, CA – After increasing its holdings of excess semiconductors during the first half of the year, the electronics supply chain finished 2006 with its highest level of end-of-year overstock in five years, says iSuppli.

ATLANTA – The Surface Mount Technology Association Atlanta Chapter announced a free panel session, Busting the Myths of Supply Chain Management, will be featured April 19 at the chapter’s annual trade show. Panelists are Wendy Causey from Arrow Electronics, Chris Ellsworth from World Micro Components and David Scruggs of New Age Electronics. The one-hour session will discuss the three main layers of the supply channel: the manufacturer’s rep, the franchise distributor and the hybrid distributor. The SMTA Expo is a free, one-day event on April 19 at the Gwinnett Civic Center in Duluth, GA. For information on exhibiting or attending, visit http://smta.org/education/vendor_days/vendor_days.cfm.

REDWOOD CITY, CA – Component maker EoPlex Technologies has closed an $8 million Series C round. ATA Ventures led the financing along with current investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Labrador Ventures and Draper-Richards. EoPlex produces components in layers using custom printing equipment and proprietary inks.

HONG KONG — Wong’s Kong King (WKK) Distribution Ltd. and Source Electronics have opened their first joint programming facility, in Hong Kong. The two companies plan to open a programming center in the Shanghai area and in two more undisclosed locations in the near future. Hong Kong-based WKK Distribution is an electronics equipment and materials distribution company. Source Electronics provides IC programming and testing to assemblers and semiconductor manufacturers.

LITTLETON, MA - VJ Electronix has acquired Precision Manufacturing Tools, a manufacturer of Pb-free-capable rework systems for area array CSP and discrete components. Terms were not disclosed VJ Electronix will move manufacturing, primary engineering and customer support for Seabrook, NH-based Precision’s PMT-800 and PMT-400 product lines to its Littleton, MA, facility.

LOS ALTOS, CA – Chinese vehicle production is estimated to have risen 12.1% during 2006, according to analyst Henderson Ventures' latest forecast summary.

The research group says world unit vehicle sales rose 4.4% last year, after a 5.2% gain in 2005. Unit production of cars and light trucks is expected to be up 2.9% in 2007, in part as a result of higher-end vehicles with electronic modules.

ATLANTA -- The first revision of IPC-7525, “Stencil Design Guidelines” was circulated for vote in February, and could be published shortly. Among the proposed changes: Refined aperture configurations and area ratios, and new guidelines for printing adhesives.

For its latest revision, the task group behind IPC-SM-840D, “Qualification and Performance of Permanent Solder Mask,” focused on terminology, consolidation, the Pb-free dilemma and test methods.

In a recent interview with Circuits Assembly, longtime task group chair Dave Vaughan, marketing manager, Taiyo America, noted that revision D began simultaneously with the Solder Mask Handbook. In fact, it began with the term “solder mask” itself.