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News

JACKSON, MI -- Electronics manufacturing services provider Sparton Corp. reported first quarter 2007 sales rose 29% to $48.3 million but the net loss widened 92% to $2.5 million versus last year.

Sales were stronger in all segments except government, which declined significantly due to several unsuccessful sonobuoy drop tests. The failed tests incurred higher program costs and resulted in lost contracts, Sparton said.

LAKE TAHOE, CA – The ESD Association seeks abstracts for the International Electrostatic Discharge Workshop next May in California.

The workshop will focus on robust design and test of ESD protection for state-of-the-art integrated circuits, advanced semiconductor system on chip, and system in package applications. This event is closely aligned with the association’s EOS/ESD Symposium.

Presentation proposals are sought on novel design concepts, special custom design approaches, technology integration issues, failure analysis, test structures, simulation tools, ESD testing, ESD characterization, system level ESD issues, or unresolved issues.

The workshop takes place May 14-17, at the Stanford (CA) Sierra Conference Center. Abstracts are due Nov. 17.

For more information, visit www.esda.org.

ELKHART, IN – CTS Corp. reported third-quarter revenues of $165.7 million, up 11% over a year ago. Sales at its EMS unit rose 13% to $100.8 million, driven by defense, communications and medical demand. Operating earnings increased $1.2 million on higher volumes and improved product mix. Sequentially, EMS sales rose 7%.

"Despite a challenging quarter from an operational perspective, relating to problems with a new automotive product launch, year-over-year sales trends remain positive, reflecting continued success with our growth initiatives. During the third quarter, we won two additional platforms for our accelerator pedal module and continued the strong pace of design wins for electronic components in infrastructure applications," said Donald Schwanz, chairman and chief executive.

CTS reiterated its prior full-year guidance of 6 to 8% sales growth, but lowered its profits guidance by 3 cents.

SAN JOSE – Flextronics reported a 23% rise in second-quarter net sales from continuing operations of $4.7 billion, a record. GAAP net income was a record $185 million for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, compared to a loss of $2 million a year ago.

Sales were up 16% sequentially. Operating margins at its EMS business improved by 10 basis points year-over-year and gross margin improved sequentially by 10 basis points.

MYRTLE BEACH, SC -- Passives components maker AVX Corp. reported second-quarter net income jumped 128% to $38.8 million over last year, while sales grew 15% to $374.6 million.

In a statement, chief executive and president John Gilbertson said, "After a good first quarter, we have seen continued growth in demand throughout the second quarter in all market segments."

STOCKHOLM -- Mydata Automation last month named Bengt Broman as its next president, replacing Mårten Lundberg, who is leaving the company after 18 years.

Broman is currently president of Teracom AB, and is a former president of LGP Allgon, which was partly owned by Mydata's parent, Skanditek.

In a press release, Broman said, "Mydata is a successful Swedish innovation company with a strong global position within its market segment. It will be extremely stimulating leading Mydata and its competent employees into the next phase of its development. My previous experience with Skanditek as principal owner is that the company adopts a long-term industrial approach, which I support."

Lundberg's will remain president until Broman is able to begin, which is expected to be sometime in early 2007. The company did not announce a transition date.

Under Lundberg, the company's annual sales grew from 28 million Krona ($3.83 million) in 1988 to 643 million Krona ($88 million) in 2005.

EL SEGUNDO, CA — Research firm iSuppli Corp. will host a free Webinar on India automotive electronics market next week. Jagdish Rebello, Ph. D., director and principal analyst for iSuppli, is the featured speaker.

India's automotive electronics market is set to expand 21.8 % over the next five years, predicts iSuppli, but is facing a host of potential roadblocks including weak infrastructure and government beauracracy.

The Webinar will take place on Nov. 1, at 11:30 a.m. EST. Visit: http://www.isuppli.com/events/default.asp?EventCode=WB.

ATLANTA -- Effective March 1, China will require labels on products sold to end-users that contain any substances that can be considered to fall under any of the six RoHS classes. But two problems persist: What the labels will look like, and the particulars of how companies will comply. Of particular concern are the unknowns at play preventing companies from compliance.

“The law didn’t specify what the labeling and disclosure requirements will be – just that there are labeling and disclosure requirements,” explains Michael Kirschner, president of Design Chain Associates, a consulting firm that has been closely tracking the issue.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- BTU International said net sales for the quarter ended Oct. 1 slipped 2% year-on-year to $18.3 million. The maker of soldering equipment reported net income jumped 48%, to $2.3 million.

NEW YORK -- Dover Corp. reported third-quarter earnings from continuing operations rose 27% to $156.3 million from a year ago, while revenues spikied 21% to $1.65 billion.

For the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company reported a gain of $274 million in proceeds from the sale of discontinued businesses. Those units include electronics OEM notables Universal Instruments, Vitronics-Soltec and Hover-Davis, among others. In the second quarter, Dover took a $106.5 million writedown against the carrying values of the discontinued businesses.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Agilent Technologies today announced the licensing of its Medalist Bead Probe technology, a methodology for placing solder beads ("bead probes") directly onto printed circuit board signal traces.

The advancement addresses the need for more test accessibility on PCBs at in-circuit test, especially for dense or high-speed PCB designs, Agilent said.

As PCBs get increasingly smaller, the ability to provide test points for in-circuit test becomes more difficult. In addition, designs with high-speed buses also limit where test targets can be placed on board layouts. Workarounds for these test challenges can be time-consuming and costly.

Manufacturers that own Agilent ICT systems can obtain right-to-use licenses at no charge directly from Agilent. A copy of "Bead Probe Handbook: Successfully Implementing Agilent Medalist Bead Probes in Practice" is included with each license. The how-to guide details procedures for implementing bead probes and is written for designers, process engineers and test engineers.

Agilent will license the bead probe technology to other test equipment vendors. Manufacturers that use other ICT equipment may obtain right-to-use licenses from Agilent.

PLANO, TX -- More than 50 companies will exhibit at the initial Southwest Electronics Production Exposition Nov. 14 and 15, show organizers said today.

The show takes place at the Plano (TX) Centre, and features suppliers and representatives of production and test equipment, plus a modest technical conference including a dozen free presentations.