ARLINGTON, VA – The monthly order index compiled by the Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA) jumped by more than 20% above July 2004, after a flat June and slight downturn in May.

"Last year, a flat July preceded a drop during the second half of the 2004 year," said Bob Willis, president. "This year, performance has fluctuated from month to month during the first half of the year, but overall the market has been positive. Buyers were cautious over the first half of the year, but now seem to be more confident that solid performance will continue over the second half."

The ECA represents manufacturers and producers of passive and active electronic components, component arrays and assemblies, and materials and support services.  It is a sector of the Electronic Industries Alliance (EIA). 

Ogaki, Japan -- Ibiden Co. plans to set up its second printed circuit board plant in Beijing at a cost of 8 billion yen to supply PCBs to major cell phone makers, company sources said.

According to a release in a local paper, the company will produce thinner PCBs to help its corporate customers build smaller phone handsets with more functions at lower cost.

The new plant, functional by next summer, will have 30,000 sq. m of floor space and be built adjacent to the firm's existing 28,000-sq.-m facility. It will have about the same output capacity as the older plant, which turns out some 60 million PCBs a year.

Malaysia -- P.I.E. Industrial Bhd, a one-stop integrated electronic contract manufacturer is adding new production lines this quarter to cater to a surge in demand for its industrial electronic products. 

Group managing director Alvin Mui told StarBiz that the group was allocating RM6mil to buy new assembly machinery and equipment from the U.S. and Japan. 

“The new machinery and equipment we are installing now have the capability to handle lead-free electronic components assembly,'' he added. 

Mui said the group had recently secured orders from new customers in Japan, the U.S. and Europe to assemble PCBs and industrial electronic products such as barcode scanners, battery chargers and battery packs. 

He added that for the first half ended June 30, the group generated RM7.45mil in pre-tax profit compared with RM5.2mil for the first half of 2004. 

Revenue amounted to RM92mil compared with RM69mil previously.   

GREELEY, CO -- FCT Assembly will continue its Lead-Free Seminars in Missouri and Minnesota in August. The seminar gives an overview on the actual production experience in Asia and covers wave, reflow, repair and board finishes.

The free seminars will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. and will include lunch. The dates are August 22 in Kansas City, August 23 in St. Louis and August 25 in Minneapolis.

For information, contact Bob Gilbert at 970-988-6243 or bgilbert@fctassembly.com.

To register, go to www.fctassembly.com and click on “Seminars and Trade Shows.”

Teddington, UK – The National Physical Laboratory is hosting a two-day Master Class on Solder Joint Reliability on Oct. 12-13.  Industry expert Werner Engelmaier, known as “Mr. Reliability,” will lead the class.

The class will be split into four half-day sessions: 1) Fundamentals in Solder Joint Reliability, 2) Failure Mode and Root Cause Analysis (Fatigue, Brittle Fracture, ENIG) & Acceleration Models, Reliability Tests and Screening Procedures, 3) Reliability Issues for Lead-Free Soldering, 4) Interconnect Failures and Design for Reliability for Plated-Through Holes/Vias, including Lead-Free Solder Impact.

Engelmaier’s background enables him to address the issues underlying electronic packaging from a system’s point-of-view, dealing with synergistic interdependence of material behaviour, processing aspects, thermal design, functional and environmental requirements.

He established the Product Reliability Main Committee of the IPC and has been Chairman since its inception. Author of over 150 technical publications, he holds two patents.

For more info: www.npl.co.uk/ei/news/

Carlsbad, CA– Asymtek and Emerson & Cuming will host a seminar in Taoyuan, Taiwan, to address new solutions for hand-held and computing manufacturing.  The free workshop, help August 19, will discuss how technology evolution impacts material selection and processing.

Industry speakers will discuss lead-free regulations and other factors affecting new processing technology, like thermal management solutions and jet dispensing rather than needle dispensing for optimum throughput requirements.  

The free seminar will be held from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Sunrise Country Club, with a buffet lunch. For information, contact Patrick Lee, Asymtek regional sales manager at 886-2-2902-1860, plee@asymtek.com; or Andy Yang, Emerson & Cuming’s Greater China sales manager at 886-9-3219-2400, andy.yang@nstarch.com.

ASHBURN, VA– Cleaning tests were recently conducted by Kester and Zestron during a combined technical training workshop at Zestron’s Application Technology Center in Ashburn.

Excellent cleaning results were reportedly achieved as Zestron’s cleaning agents were able to fully remove solder paste and flux residues from Kester’s lead-free and eutectic products. The two parties then worked to optimize application parameters for the tested products.

Application recommendations based on the testing are now available through Kester.

New York -- Dover Electronics has acquired Colder Products Co. (St. Paul, MN). Colder will join the Components Group of companies within Dover Electronics, a subsidiary of Dover Corp.
 
Colder a designer and manufacturer of plastic quick disconnect couplings and specialized liquid and gas handling devices for low pressure plastic tubing connections. Colder sells its products in the life sciences/medical, specialty industrial and chemical/food dispensing markets. The company expects to generate sales of nearly $50 million in 2005.

TORONTO -- Celestica Inc. has acquired CoreSim, a Canadian-based provider of advanced design analysis and redesign services. CoreSim will strengthen Celestica's design services by adding intellectual property, including its engineering tools and processes for electronic design projects. CoreSim currently provides services to some of the world's leading OEMs.

CoreSim will offer its proprietary tool, Schematic Modeling, that identifies wiring and technology issues in schematics. It provides design analysis which independently verifies and validates pre-layout customer designs to assist in keeping engineering projects on-time and within budget. 

Bangalore, India — Two Indian PCB design companies have been acquired by overseas companies, in unrelated deals announced last week, strengthening the possibility that the country may become a major electronics manufacturing location.

DES PLAINES, IL —Kester will host a course featuring RoHS/Lead-free training on August 23 and 24 at its Des Plaines facility.

The training gives updated information and practical experience to enable rapid, effective implementation of Pb-free assembly. Will include practical demonstrations of Pb-free assembly and rework process assembly.

On Aug.23, attendees will receive classroom instruction on lead-free alloy selection for SMT; flux-critical selection parameters; equipment requirements; component and board finishes; paste in-hole with lead-free; solderability and how to enhance it; troubleshooting the lead-free SMT process; and thermal profiling for lead-free assemblies. Lunch and a networking session will be provided. Classroom instruction will also focus on compatibility issues; BGA lead-free attach; pin testability and inspection; reliability of SMT joints; preventing and reducing defects; reworking lead-free solder joints; and thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) of fluxes and the impact on process.

The half-day session on Aug. 24 provides attendees with a hands-on application session for lead-free SMT process implementation. Attendees are encouraged to bring their boards/application for a lead-free solution .

Attendees will receive a Project 2005: Achieving Lead-Free RoHS Assembly Technical Manual and the Lead-Free Connection Newsletter.

For info. on technical content of the seminars, contact: Peter Biocca, Kester, 972-390-1197 or pbiocca@kester.com. For general info., contact Shirley Wood, Kester, 800-253-7837 or kesteruniversity@kester.com.

TEMPE, AZ – The manufacturing sector grew for the 26th straight month in July as the slowdown in May is looking more like a blip than a trend. New orders and production both saw higher rates of growth, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws) poll.