Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

GENEVA -- The International Electrotechnical Commission has decided not to publish a standard covering the marking and labeling of products designated as lead-free or RoHS compliant.

In a press release posted to an industry listserv, the trade group reportedly said it would instead produce a technical specification with proposals for marking presence or non-presence of substances. In doing so, the press release said, IEC turned down a proposal from IPC, which has pending standards for marking and labeling.

MILPITAS, CA -- Solectron Corp. Thursday night reported fiscal first-quarter net earnings of $20.2 million on sales of $2.46 billion. Last year, the EMS firm showed a profit of $58.2 million, while sales dropped about 9% from $2.69 billion a year ago.

SINGAPORE -- Seagate Technology today said it would buy Maxtor Corp. in an all-stock deal worth $1.9 billion. An antitrust review will hold up the transaction until the latter half of 2006, Seagate CFO Charles Pope said on a conference call announcing the deal.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL-- Jabil Circuit's fiscal first quarter profit climbed 38% on strong demand for consumer electronics and telecom gear. For November quarter, Jabil earned $76.9 million, up from $55.9 million a year ago.

Revenue rose 31% percent to $2.4 billion from $1.83 billion last year.

TIMISOARA, Romania – Solectron has opened a Design and Engineering Services Center in Timisoara, its largest European facility. The added capabilities will enable electrical and mechanical design, advanced process technology, leading edge test development and failure analysis.

Solectron is the largest private employer in the Timisoara region. The site serves major OEMs in computer, telecommunications, digital consumer and industrial markets.

LOUISVILLE -- Sypris Solutions Inc., a provider of EMS services, lowered its forecast for the fourth quarter, blaming customer inventories, and delayed shipments and higher-than-expected labor costs.

Sypris today updated its fourth-quarter guidance to breakeven to a loss of 5 cents per share, down from 12 to 15 cents per share. The company forecast sales of $133 million to $135 million, down from previous guidance of $135 million to $140 million for the quarter.

SALT LAKE CITY -- Citing 2005 as "a year of great progress" CirTran Corp. founder and president Iehab J. Hawatmeh said today that the EMS provider was on track for record sales.

"It was a record sales year for CirTran, with more than $80 million in business won, giving us a strong backlog going into 2006," he said.

For the first time as a public company, CirTran reported back-to-back profitable quarters. The thirds quarter was the company's sixth straight quarter of sales growth. In the third quarter, CirTran reported a profit of $575,042, up 204% over the same period in fiscal 2004.

For the nine months ended Sept. 30, CirTran reported a net profit of $839,543, up 278%. The company has pushed into the homeland security and gaming markets, Hawatmeh said.

Total assets reached $10.7 million, up 12% sequentially and 148% year-on-year.

Hawatmeh said CirTran, which is traded over the counter, is aiming to move to the American Stock Exchange in 2006. "That is a stated goal," he said. "We are working to move closer to meeting the minimum listing requirements and have the Amex in our sights."

FRANKLIN, MA -- Speedline Technologies will tackle the SMT industry's most pressing manufacturing challenges in a new series of free, monthly webinars.

Designed for OEM and CEM process engineers, each of the monthly 60-minute Internet-based seminars will focus on challenges specific to a major surface mount manufacturing process.

Speedline staff will host the online workshops. The webinars will include an educational presentation, discussion of new technologies and techniques, practical how-to advice and a Q&A opportunity.

The 2006 schedule is:

Jan. 19 -- Lead-Free Printing Process
Feb. 16 -- 0201 and 01005 Component Assembly Process
March 16 -- Lead-Free Reflow Soldering
April 13 -- Adhesive Printing
May 18 -- Pin in Paste (Intrusive Reflow)
June 15 -- Lead-Free Wave Soldering
July 13 -- Challenges of High Speed Underfill
Aug. 17 -- Lead-Free Printing Process
Sept. 14 -- Practical DOE and SPC for Electronics Assembly
Oct. 19 -- Cleaning Lead-Free Residues
Nov. 16 -- MicroDot Dispensing
Dec. 14 -- 0201 and 01005 Component Assembly Process

All Webcasts are free and will begin at 11 am., U.S. Eastern time.

For more information or to register, go to http://www.speedlinetech.com/seminars or call 508-541-4749.

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Congress, led by Senators John Ensign (R-NV) and Joe Lieberman (D-CT), yesterday unveiled a proposal calling for a boost in R&D funding for basic and advanced science, in an effort to spearhead nationwide attention toward developing domestic engineering talent and ideas.

In a letter to colleagues, the senators said the bill “aims to make the necessary improvements in research, education of science and technology talent and innovation infrastructure to allow the United States to maintain the global leadership it achieved in the last century.” The bill responds to the recommendations made in the National Innovation Initiative report, “Innovate America,” issued late last year by the Council on Competitiveness.

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL -- SigmaTron International today reported revenues 41.3% to $34.9 million yet earnings fell 7.6% to $1.2 million for its second quarter ended Oct. 31.

A year ago the an electronics manufacturing services company reported net revenues of $24.7 million and net income of $1.3 million.

LONDON -- The U.K.'s top energy official today suggested that the deadline for implementation of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment directive would be pushed back.

In a statement, Energy Minister Malcolm Wicks said progress on the implementation of WEEE is to be reviewed immediately. "We have listened to the concerns expressed by both the business community and other stakeholders over the implementation process and have decided that more time is needed to get the implementation right. Although any further delay is regrettable, this will ultimately deliver far greater environmental benefits."

LONDON – Isola Group is set to buy Polyclad Laminates from Cookson Group (the parent company of Cookson Electronics) for $91 million. The deal is expected to close in February.

Combined, the companies would be neck-and-neck with Nanya as the second largest supplier of laminate materials, behind Matsushita. Polyclad had sales of $171 million through the third quarter of 2005, while Isola said its revenues will top $400 million this year.