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The furloughed workers had been hired on a temporarily basis, the report said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Tempe, AZ – The manufacturing sector grew for the 27th straight month in August, although high energy prices raise concerns for future growth. New orders and production slipped from July but remained strong, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws) poll.
ISM chairman Norbert Ore said, “[T]he PMI still indicates significant economic growth in both manufacturing and the overall economy. Comments from supply managers indicate great concern over recent new highs in the energy commodities. Many express concerns as to whether current business strength can be sustained if high energy prices persist.”
For the month the PMI measure of economic activity fell 3.0 points sequentially, to 53.6%. New orders dropped 4.2 points to 56.4%, while production fell 4.4 points to 55.9%.
Backlogs grew slightly, up 1.5 points to 50.5. Manufacturers shaved internal inventories, but customer stock levels grew 2.0 points. Employment fell but remained above the benchmark for growth.
Electronic components and equipment was the third strongest category during the month. Industrial and commercial equipment and computers also reported growth.
April
May June
July
Aug.
PMI 53.3
51.4
53.8
56.6
53.6
New orders 53.7
51.7
57.2
60.6
56.4
Production
56.7
54.9
55.6
61.2
55.9
Inventories 47.9
47.8
47.8
47.5
45.7
Customer inventories 41.5 47.5
44.0
44.5
46.5 Backlogs 53.0
51.0
51.0
49.0
50.5
Source: Institute for Supply Management, August 2005
LOS ALTOS – Have semiconductor inventories gotten out of whack? That’s the assessment one researcher is concluding, saying that the disparity between strong sales of end-use items and the drop in IC shipments suggests a “major inventory adjustment.”
Net sales were $45.9 million, down 4% from $47.8 million last year. In Q4 2004 the company posted earnings of $1.5 million.
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