Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

SAN FRANCISCO -- The July book-bill for makers of semiconductor gear was 0.93, up from 0.90 in June, despite a drop in orders.

A drop in front-end orders masked gains for backend tools. Orders for backend tools jumped 44% quarter over quarter.

FRANKLIN, MA – SMT manufacturers face many misconceptions about the equipment requirements for lead-free wave soldering as they struggle to answer the question: “Is our wave soldering process ready for the transition to lead-free materials?”

To help, Speedline Technologies is hosting a free, live Web seminar on “Lead-Free Wave Soldering.” The event will be held September 15th, from 11 a.m. to 12 Noon, EST.

Topics will include:
             * Wave solder equipment configurations
             * Flux chemistries and solder alloys
             * Material/Equipment interaction
             * Defect reduction

For more info.and to register, visit speedlinetech.com/seminars.

NEW YORK – Dover Electronics will acquire Knowles Electronics, a manufacturer of micro-acoustic components, for $750 million, the company said today. The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in September.

ATLANTA -- PCB Design Conference East, the premier conference and exhibition for PCB engineering, design and manufacture professionals, will celebrate its 10^th anniversary in Manchester, NH, on Oct. 10-14. Dieter Bergman, director of technology transfer at IPC, will deliver the keynote on October 12 with a presentation on "The Designer - Preparing for the Next Decade."

Attendees can choose from more than 40 technical courses taught by industry experts, and visit the two-day product and service exhibition. Special events include a Welcome Luncheon and Industry Icon Roast, an Opening Night Reception on the show floor, Trivia Night, an Ice Cream Social and a Pub Night at Jillians.

The complete conference brochure and registration details are available at pcbeast.com.

Register by September 9 for the early bird discount. PCB Design Conference alumni and members of IPC Designers Council (or other recognized industry user groups) are also eligible for discounts.

PHOENIX -- Suntron Corp. said that the loss of Applied Materials as a customer was responsible for a big dip in revenues for its just completed quarter.

The electronics manufacturing services provider reported second-quarter net sales were $81.8 million, down $49.6 million over a year ago. Sales were off just $900,00 from the first quarter.

HERNDON, VA — The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative begins preliminary work on its next industry roadmap in Chicago next month. Product Emulator Groups will hold their first industry-wide meeting Sept. 30, immediately following SMTA International.

Rogerstone, UK - Fujifilm Electronic Imaging Ltd. (FFEI) has returned as EMS provider TTems' sole supplier of PCBAs. The partnership is projected to provide TTems with £3 Million in 2006.

TTems has partnered with FFEI - Fujifilm's only manufacturer of electronic pre-press equipment outside Japan - at its Rogerstone site since 1999. FFEI's volume PCBA manufacturing will now take place in the UK.

TTems' NPI team worked to implement the 38 new lines at its Rogerstone facility over a two-month period. The lines are spread across five ranges of FFEI equipment, including the Luxel-V series and V6 machine.

Franklin, MA - JNJ Industries Inc., a supplier of electronics screen printing accessories, cleaning chemistries, ultrasonic cleaning equipment and specialized tooling products, appointed Envision Solutions to represent its products in TX, OK, AR and LA.

Envision maintains offices in Austin, Dallas and Houston.

Seoul -- LG Electronics and Nortel will form a joint venture to offer telecom and networking solutions in the wireline, optical, wireless and enterprise areas for South Korean customers.

The joint venture will be tentatively named LG-Nortel Co. Ltd. It will combine the telecommunication infrastructure business of LG Electronics and the distribution and service business of Nortel in South Korea.

Forest Grove, OR -- Merix Corp., a leading manufacturer of advanced printed circuit boards, promoted Daniel T. Olson to CEO of Asian operations.

Olson, formerly Sr. VP of sales and marketing, has been with Merix since 1999, following senior sales management roles at MacDermid and Olin.

"Dan's leadership and strategic focus at Merix ... gives him the insight necessary for seamless support of our global customers and integration of our pending acquisition of the operations of Eastern Pacific Circuits Limited," said Mark Hollinger, chairman and CEO .

Thomas R. Ingham has been promoted to replace Olson. Ingham joined Merix earlier this year as director of quick-turn sales, and has over 25 years of experience in the industry.

Binghamton, NY -- Dover Technologies has appointed Jeroen Schmits as president of Universal Instruments Corp. Schmits replaces Ian deSouza, who moved on from the company earlier this month.

Schmits will take the helm on August 23. He has been president of Vitronics Soltec (another Dover Technologies group) since 1999. He previously worked at Universal’s Binghamton headquarters from 1997-1999 as vice president of the Surface Mount/Systems Division.

Gerhard Meese, executive VP of Dover, will relinquish his caretaker role at Universal when Schmits takes over.

Wetzlar, Germany -- Leica Microsystems has opened a cleanroom at its Weilburg, Germany, facility. Replacing the previous cleanroom in Wetzlar, the new facility will also bring together the assembly lines previously maintained at two locations.

The 594 m² cleanroom will be used for system assembly and integration, and for customer acceptance tests. The sensitive entrance, packaging and system integration areas correspond to class 10,000; and the 328 m² assembly is class 100,000.

The company believes that combining the cleanrooms and centralizing assembly in Weilburg will enable a more flexible, efficient use of manpower, reduce throughput time, improve quality and lower contamination risks.

To further enhance the use of qualified personnel Leica has begun to systematically qualify its workforce. Over half of the employees in Weilburg are either engineers or technical specialists. Thirteen people have already transferred from Wetzlar, and more are expected to follow.