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News

San Clemente, CA -- YESTech has opened a Singapore office to provide sales, training and technical support to its South East Asia customer base.

The office will provide training and sales for the YTV Series of automated optical inspection (AOI) systems and YTX Series of x-ray inspection systems. The company claims these yield enhancement solutions lower board failure rates and insure a high quality product.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – Investment in IT is beginning to show signs of life, a new study found, based on a survey of over 200 financial institutions.

Financial Insights, an IDC company, estimates that North American capital markets firms are planning to spend a total of $36 billion on technology in 2005 based on current budgets and plans. The firm forecast 5% growth in IT capital buys for the industry.

DALLAS -- Jack Kilby, whose invented the integrated circuit in 1958 and later shared in the Nobel Prize, died Monday of cancer. He was 81.

At Texas Instruments in 1958, Kilby built the first IC into a single piece of semiconducting material half the size of a paper clip. Kilby also co-invented the handheld electronic calculator that made TI a household name.

TORONTO -- SMTC Corp. will build assemblies for Leitch Technology in a deal worth an estimated annualized run rate of $20 million.

SMTC will provide electronics manufacturing services for Leitch, a maker of high-end video systems.

Under the terms of the agreement, SMTC will initially provide complete manufacturing services to Leitch at its new product introduction center in Markham, Ontario, and its facility in Chihuahua, Mexico.

In a statement, SMTC senior vice president of business development Steve Hoffrogge said the "transition ... is well underway, with full roll out of the initial phases expected in the third and fourth quarters of the year."

RICHARDSON, TX – Michael C. Shores, president and chief executive of TXP-Texas Prototypes Inc, was named a finalist for Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2005.

The E&Y program recognizes significant business achievements around the world made possible by the entrepreneurial spirit.

incorporated in 2002 after spinning off from a major EMS company.

Shores, who writes a column on optoelectronics assembly for Circuits Assembly, is a finalist in the Realizing Business Potential category for the Southwest.

Shores was selected by an independent panel of judges comprised of local business, academic and community leaders.

TXP provides prototyping electronics manufacturing services. It was

“The acceptance of our business model has been overwhelming,” said Shores in a statement. “I am proud to be at the head of one of the pre-manufacturing services industry’s fastest growing companies, and very excited about what the future potentially holds."

ST. PETERSBURG, FL – Jabil Circuit reported third-quarter profit climbed 48% on a 19% hike in sales. The top tier provider of electronics manufacturing services said May quarter earnings rose to $59.4 million, from $40.1 million a year ago.

Revenue rose 19% to $1.94 billion from $1.63 billion last year.

RENO, NV -- Electronic Evolution Technologies, a manufacturer of assemblies for the medical, RF/wireless, gaming, industrial and digital AV markets, will assume a 17,000 sq. ft. plant in Empalme, Sonora, Mexico.

The plant is located in the Bellavista Industrial Park and is run by the Offshore Group, a Tucson, AZ, provider of outsourced manufacturing services to companies in the aerospace, medical device, automotive, electronics and optics industries in Mexico.

EET will eventually employ between 50 to 100 direct labor workers, the company said.

In a statement EET president Sonny Newman said, "Our decision to establish an operation in Mexico was predicated on a desire to offer our customers a low-cost labor solution."

The Offshore Group runs industrial parks in Coahuila and Sonora and claims more than 35 manufacturers under contract that employ an aggregate 13,500 direct labor employees.

ROCHESTER, NY ¾ Hover-Davis Inc., designer and manufacturer of component delivery systems for the PCB assembly industry, has appointed Sincotron Finland Oy as its distributor for Finland and the Baltic States.

Sincotron Finland is a distributor of machines, material and services, including SMD placement, inspection, microelectronics (such as bonding, curing and cleaning), soldering, dispensing, screen printing, testing, software, profiling, tools and consumables (such as solder paste and stencil wiper papers).

“Sincotron is well established and respected in the Finnish market,” said Mike Hayward, H-D European sales manager. “Their line card is complimentary to the Hover-Davis product offering and plans for expansion into the Baltic States means that we can extend our coverage into these emerging markets.”

Norwalk, CT- Technology software developer BDMetrics will debut ATExpo Connects, a personalized web-based tool, at the Assembly Technology Expo in September. Available for each show attendee, the software mines through the ATExpo database of people, products and conference sessions to generate a custom report tailored to the attendees' needs and interests.

The tool will be release in mid-August. After attendees register, they will be emailed a personalized report detailing people they should meet, companies they should visit and conference sessions they should attend, based on the preference each attendee outlines when they register. The report will be updated as the show dates approach.

ATExpo will take place Sept. 27-29, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

HOLLIS, NH – A prominent electronics assembly benchmark and consulting company is launching a study on electronics box assembly cost of conversion benchmarks.

“This is an important first step in fulfilling the evolving needs of OEM and EMS organizations for box level benchmark information,” said Steve Kalenik, CEERIS International senior consultant, in a press statement.

JACKSON, MI -- Sparton Corp., a provider of electronics manufacturing services, said today that it will no longer pursue negotiations to acquire medical device manufacturer HDJ Co. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Specialized Medical Devices Inc.

The company did not disclose a reason for the decision.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit Inc., a top tier contract assembler, will add 500 staff to its Memphis operations by the end of the year, to support recently awarded contracts for building electronic cash registers and self-serve kiosks. Jabil will also increase the size of the facility by more than 50%.

In a press statement, operations manager Alex Privert said the company is looking for the additional employees to handle everything from electronics system configuration and integration to material handling tasks.