News
BOCA RATON, FL -- Celestica has landed a major EMS contract with Artesyn Technologies, a maker of power conversion and embedded boards for server and storage, networking, wireless and telecommunications.
In a statement today, Artesyn said it is closing its manufacturing facility Tatabanya, Hungary, and will award European manufacturing services work to Celestica. Most of the products currently being manufactured in Hungary will be transferred to Celestica's factory in Oradea, Romania, Artesyn said.
This transition is expected to be complete by the end of 2005. The move will save Artesyn an estimated $6 million next year.
Joseph O'Donnell, president and CEO, said, "Our intent to outsource production to Celestica is primarily based on their larger purchasing power and ability to leverage economies of scale from a larger manufacturing base. Additionally, Celestica's global manufacturing structure will open up sourcing options in different geographic locations as we grow our global wireless infrastructure business. The new relationship with Celestica gives us the ability to leverage our cost structure, as well as improve gross margins and overall profitability."
IRVINE, CA -- Sparton Corp. will use RiverOne's supply-chain management software in its electronics design and manufacturing operations.
Sparton will implement RiverOne's Interactive software for business processes with customers and suppliers. Financial terms were not announced.
David W. Hockenbrocht, Sparton CEO, said, "By leveraging industry shifts from the outset, we have always been a step ahead of the competition and moving to the next level. RiverOne's unique approach to controlling supply chain relationships in complex, outsourced environments, meshes with our vision and will support us regardless of how our business model continues to evolve."
MANKATO, MN -- Winland Electronics, a designer and manufacturer of electronic control products and systems, reported second-quarter revenues of $7.1 million, a record. Net income rose more than 600%, to $566,539, over last year.
Sales for the quarter ended June 30 were up 22% over last year, driven primarily from new product line items and improved sales of proprietary products.
Gross profit for the quarter was $1.9 million, up 90% ovfer last year and up 10.6% sequentially.
Gross profit as a percentage of net sales increased from 17% in the second quarter last year to 26.4% this year.
Total operating expenses increased 15.9% to $963,985 but were down 9.9% sequentially. Operating income was up almost five-fold to $914,900, and up 45.4% over the first quarter.
Lorin Krueger, chief executive, said, "[T]hus far our blend of contract services, proprietary products and cost management have enabled us to hold margins even in a competitive environment."
This year Winland has added six new customers and 41 new product introductions in its EMS business
The company had $1.6 million in cash at quarter's end.
Winland performs EMS services and also has its own line of environmental sensors.
Irvine, CA -- The electronics group of Henkel will relocate its mold compound development, application engineering and technical service capabilities from Olean, NY, to the advanced research and applications center in Irvine that opened earlier this year.
Dr. Larry Crane, global director of research, development & engineering for semiconductor materials, said, “With the unification of product development in one facility, Henkel now has the capability to develop our mold compounds, die attach products, thermal interface materials, underfills and encapsulants under one roof with a superior technical team. This streamlined approach is a win-win for everyone, especially customers who can prototype new packages more quickly, accelerate time-to-market and do so more cost-effectively.”
The 53, 000 sq. ft. facility is host to an analytical and failure analysis lab and a 5,000 sq. ft Class 10,000 clean room which houses advanced testing and manufacturing equipment, including a Datacon APS 2200 placement system, a DEK Europa screen/stencil printing system for backside wafer coating and a Disco wafer dicing saw. The operation also has a 2,000 sq. ft surface mount production line with screen printing, reflow and dispensing capabilities.
TAMPA, FL—The Reptron Electronics contract manufacturing facility in Gaylord, MI, has received ISO 13485:2003 certification. The company's Tampa facility received this certification in June 2004.
"This is an important milestone in our commitment to serving the specialized needs of our medical device manufacturing customers. This segment represents over 40% of our current business base. We are pursuing certification in all our facilities to enhance the geographic support flexibility we can offer our medical industry customers, both in terms of process consistency and ability to support our customers' multinational end market regulatory requirements," said Paul J. Plante, president and CEO.
The ISO 13485:2003 quality management system was published to ensure consistency in medical device manufacturer compliance to regulatory quality management requirements worldwide. It is based on quality management system requirements currently contained in medical device regulations around the world and also incorporates elements of ISO 9001:2000.
Additionally, the FDA has informed Reptron that the Gaylord facility is now registered as an EMS provider of medical devices. A similar announcement was made regarding the Tampa facility last year. [These registrations are not an FDA endorsement or approval.]
For the July quarter, BTU reported net income of $770,000, up 361% sequentially, on sales of $15.8 million. The company's net loss for the year-ago quarter was $892,000.
First-half net sales were up 12% to $28.6 million. Net income was $937,000, compared to a loss of $1.9 million.
"We are pleased with the progress we are making in bringing cost under control, improving our results and globalizing our business," said Paul J. van der Wansem, chairman and chief executive.
"Our visibility into the future remains limited, but we continue to see strength in most of our markets," said van der Wansem. "Based on our current knowledge, we expect third quarter sales to be equal or better than the second quarter, with profits improving in line with revenue growth."
SANTA CLARA, CA -- Intel Corp. today announced plans to build a state-of-the-art $3 billion semiconductor production plant in Arizona.
The world's largest maker of microprocessers plans to construct a 300-mm silicon wafer fab at the company's Chandler, AZ, manufacturing site.
ANGLETON, TX -- Benchmark Electronics, a leading contract manufacturing provider, reported June quarter sales of $561 million, up 14% from $491 million last year. Second-quarter net income was $18.7 million, up from $17.6 million a year ago.
The results were driven by "significant" new program production, said president and chief executive Cary T. Fu, in a statement. "We expect strong growth and opportunities in the second half of 2005."
Last week, in response to increasing demands for currency reform, the Peoples Bank of
In a press statement, IPC announced its disappointment with
Dan Feinberg, chairman of IPC’s government relations committee, said, “In the short term, these changes will have little or no impact on the balance of trade and the
John Kania, IPC government relations director, said, “
IPC is a member of the China Currency Coalition, an assembly of trade groups who seek currency reform. H.R. 1498, sponsored by
The statements echoed those of other trade groups, which hailed the move as a step forward but put
“
Also last week, Dave McCurdy, president and CEO of the Electronic Industries Alliance (eia.org), and a former U.S. Congressman, said, “We have long encouraged the idea that the yuan should be allowed to float and have advocated the approach of tying the yuan to a broader basket of international currencies, as they have chosen to do. We believe this pragmatic approach will allow the yuan’s value to rise against the dollar in a way that will allow
ATLANTA — PBR Seminars announced today the debut broadcast of a free two-hour Webinar featuring renowned industry analyst Walt Custer.
The event, Business Outlook: Global Electronics Industry, will be held Aug. 9, at 1 pm Eastern/10 am Pacfic.
SHANGHAI -- China yesterday assented to longstanding calls to revalue its currency, a decision that could have major repercussions for manufacturing and other industries elsewhere.
Critics of the former fiscal policy hailed the move.
With the yuan now in play, most feel that its value will rise relative to the dollar, thus raising the value of China's goods and services abroad. The effect: the price advantage companies have in making products in China will dissipate.
“The NAM has almost single-handedly put this issue on the front burner and has been pressuring for greater Chinese currency flexibility for almost two years,” said NAM president John Engler. “We are pleased that China has now moved away from a fixed dollar peg to what could be described as a ‘crawling peg’ based on a basket of currencies.
“China’s new currency system offers the possibility for continued upward movement of the yuan in the coming weeks and months, and that is what we will be looking for,” Engler said.
“While the initial 2.1% revaluation is inadequate, we view it as the beginning of what should be a significant revaluation” Engler said. “China’s new system appears to allow re-valuing the yuan as much as three-tenths of a percent each day — meaning it could move a much as one percent every three days.
“By October, when the next Treasury Department report on currency manipulation is due, we hope to see that China’s currency has moved significantly enough to begin correcting long-standing trade distortions.
“Today’s announcement by the Chinese authorities has the potential for beginning to correct the huge trade imbalances that have been created by distorted currencies – or it fall short if the crawling peg is operated too cautiously,” said Engler. “But for now, we are pleased that the fixed peg is gone and that a new system has been created. We hope everyone will join us in urging China to use it in a manner that truly reflects market pressures.
“China’s move will also help address our larger trade deficit with all Asia. The Chinese yuan has been holding down other Asian currencies, and the NAM has believed that Chinese action would result in upward movement of the other currencies as well,” Engler said. “Malaysia’s announcement that it will also break its peg to the dollar is, we hope, just the first of many similar announcements to come.”
“I commend President Bush and Treasury Secretary John Snow for their resolution and strong leadership,” Engler said. “Their steadfastness made this day possible.”
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