Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

MILPITAS, CA – Solectron Corp., a provider of electronics manufacturing and integrated supply chain services, has reported the resignation of executive vice president and CFO.

Kiran Patel is leaving Solectron to become CFO for Intuit Inc. Warren Ligan, senior vice president and corporate controller at Solectron, will fill Patel's role on an interim basis while an internal and external candidate search is conducted.

"Kiran has been a driving force in the transformation of Solectron and we thank him for his many contributions," commented Mike Cannon, president and CEO of Solectron. "Moving forward with Warren as interim CFO, we are assigning a proven performer from our strong internal team of financial professionals to this key position."

BERG, SWITZERLAND – Alphasem AG has sold its 250th Swissline die attach machine in North America, the company said today.

The second-generation machine for die attach and sort processes was introduced in 2001.

Alphasem is a supplier of packaging equipment to Intel, Infineon, Micron, IBM, Amkor and Texas Instruments.

HERNDON, VA — The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative consortium next month will sponsor a "state of the industry" forum on RFID technology.

The meeting is scheduled for Oct. 4, at Sun Microsystems in Newark, CA.

STUTENSEE-BLANKENLOCH, GERMANY – Test solutions provider Digitaltest has added a local distributor on South America. Macon SRL will provide sales and service representation for Digitaltest's range of in-circuit, flying probe and functional test equipment.

In a statement, Digitaltest's Hans Baka said, "Many of our global customers now require support on their doorsteps – a trend that has seen Digitaltest expand its presence in several key geographies over the last few years.”

BINGHAMTON, NY – Endicott Interconnect Technologies has selected the AdVantis and Polaris platforms from Universal Instruments Corp. for military product applications, Universal said today.

The companies said the platforms were selected in order to automate production of a chip carrier for a leading military supplier. The product features several hundred surface-mount components, several memory devices and a very large heat spreader, the companies said.

AdVantis is a flip chip placement system; Polaris handles multiple assembly processes, including dispensing and underfill.

EI is a spinoff from IBM and builds chip packages, printed circuit boards and electronics assemblies.

HAUKIPUDAS, FINLAND -- Sanmina-SCI will reduce its operation here and lay off 100 temporary workers, according to an online news report today.

The plant, which makes cellphone peripherals , employs 742 workers, according to news reports.

The furloughed workers had been hired on a temporarily basis, the report said.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC is seeking candidates for up to nine vacancies on its board of directors, the trade group said today.

Nomination forms are available at www.ipc.org/boardsurvey. Candidates must notify IPC of their interest by Nov. 21.

Six current board members will evaluate candidates and create a slate for election. A voice vote to affirm the candidates will be taken during a luncheon at IPC’s Apex trade show in February.

IPC said candidates should be senior-level employees at IPC member companies and have a demonstrated commitment to IPC’s long-range goals and objectives. Candidates should be of the highest moral and ethical character and must exhibit strong leadership abilities, independence and objectivity, IPC said. The criteria as to how candidates would be judged on these attributes were not stated.

SAN JOSE -- Demand for handsets and notebooks are jumping, a leading tech analyst said today, basing its observations on meetings with more than 15 Asian electronics companies.

SG Cowen semiconductor analysts said the meetings found continued acceleration in GSM and GPRS handsets and strength in everything from notebooks to enterprise networking to wireless components.

The analysts said strength is expected across most consumer end-markets, particularly LCD monitors and high end TVs. Desktops have slowed, however, the firm said.

The analysts reported meeting with several of the largest Asian distributors, ODMs, component suppliers, foundries and back-end assembly and test vendors.

NEW BEDFORD, MA – And another one falls.

Epec LLC, a printed circuit board manufacturer since 1952, is exiting the production business. The company will sell its equipment at auction and concentrate on its board distribution business.

One of America’s first PCB shops, Epec's founders also cofounded the IPC, in 1957. Primarily a single and double-sided prototype shop, in recent years it added capabilities up to 16 layers. Of late, production made up about 25% of the company’s business, with the remainder brokered boards, general manager Gene St. Onge told Circuits Assembly.

Epec will retain a small amount of equipment to handle repair work.

The auction takes place Sept. 21. A preview will be held Sept. 20 at the company’s plant.

WASHINGTON, DC – China is gearing up for a January implementation of its version of the Restriction of Hazardous Substances directive, according to a posting last month by a federal agency employee on the leadfree.org listserv. At an August workshop at the Department of Commerce, Chinese officials announced that China’s version of RoHS will go into effect January 2006, said Dr. John Sieber.

BRUSSELS – Comments are being sought from companies whose designs would either be rendered impracticable with RoHS-free substances or where the negative environmental and consumer safety impacts caused by switching would outweigh the benefits.

While the ROHS Directive 2002/95/EC bans lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, PBB and PBDE, the annex to the Directive lists a limited number of applications which are exempted. However, under pressure from industry, the European Commission is accepting input on requests for possible additional exemptions.

ALAMEDA, CA -- Meeting RoHS requirements requires a one-time investment of 2% to 3% of cost of goods sold, a top research firm said today. The firm released its findings to counter what it called "false information and speculation" about the cost of compliance.