Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

Irvine, CA -- The electronics group of Henkel and the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores Monterrey (Monterrey Technology Institute) will partner to conduct research on lead-free solders, provide local customer support and offer educational opportunities.

Henkel customers will have access to the latest materials research to help them prepare for the demands imposed by the changes in technology. Henkel and Tec de Monterrey technical teams will study and characterize the compatibility behavior of tin-lead and lead-free solder pastes with several component and PCB surface finishes. The results will be made available to Henkel customers.

The relationship enables Henkel to provide its Mexican customer base with local failure analysis, evaluation capabilities and the support of an application engineer who will reside on-site at Monterrey Tech.

Monterrey Tech will give the technical team from Henkel full access to the University’s advanced SMT assembly line, its failure and analsyis laboratories and support from the institution’s educators and graduate students.

Henkel will support the University with hands-on training, including lead-free technical workshops.

TEMPE, AZ -- EMS provider Three Five Systems' interim chief financial officer has resigned due to health reasons, the company said today.

James E. Jurgens will continue to serve as a consultant to the company on a reduced basis.

The company announced that it has retained the services of Bridge Associates to assist it in the restructuring of its operations. Carl H. Young, III, managing director and founding member of Bridge Associates, will act as chief restructuring officer.

MONTE CARLO -- Dell today made a series of announcements concerning its continuing environmental efforts. The company stated that it exceeded a 2004 product recovery goal and outlined aggressive environment goals for the current year. The company is also refreshing its corporate desktop line and making an advance toward the RoHS directive.

Dell exceeded product recovery goals set for its last fiscal year and announced expanded global environmental goals for recycling, environmental design and energy efficiency, including a 50% product recovery increase. The goals and progress on environment and social initiatives are available at www.dell.com/environment.

Last year, the company committed to increase product recovery from customers by 50% (as measured by weight recovered). Strong growth of ARS in the U.S. helped the company recover more than 24 million pounds of used product from customers, a 234% increase over fiscal year 2004 results. Worldwide, Dell recovered nearly 66 million pounds of product during the period. Dell remains committed to increasing product recovery rates, as reflected by its goal of another 50% product recovery increase during 2006.

The company’s OptiPlex GX520 and GX620 desktop systems introduced today also take steps toward compliance with the RoHS directive by featuring lead-free power supplies, motherboards and chassis.

The systems also give customers flexibility to deploy systems based on specific needs. Customers can choose from seven chassis between the two products, including mini-tower, desktop, small and ultra-small form factors that offer expandability options. The systems share a single software image across all chassis. The small form factor chassis can be installed behind an flat-panel monitor for an all-in-one, “zero-footprint” system.

In addition to the standard limited warrantythat accompanies each system, Custom Factory Integration (CFI), Deployment Services and Asset Recovery Services (ARS) help increase the value of the technology purchase.

As systems are being built, Dell’s build-to-order process enables customized image management to occur in the factory environment. Through CFI, Dell can load customer-defined images, software, asset information and integrate hardware components as part of manufacturing. Once set up, Dell can replicate the CFI process one system at a time or thousands at a time.

Customers can benefit from having a Dell technician install their new systems. Dell installation services range from simple system set-up to complex deployments that coordinate roll-outs to multiple sites and meet tight customer deadlines.

ARS take the hassle out of retiring old computer equipment. ARS will recycle the system responsibly or when feasible, recondition and offer its market value to the customer if resold.

MORTON, IL -- Preco Electronics Inc. has completed the sale of its manufacturing operation to Vansco Electronics, a Canadian EMS firm.

The Preco plant designs and manufactures electronics systems and components for heavy equipment.

The acquisiton gives Winnipeg, Canada-based Vansco a U.S. footprint, and the company is looking for more acquisitons of electronic controls makers.

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc. has been awarded a multi-year, $24 million contract by Raytheon Missile Systems to provide cables and harnesses for the Joint Standoff Weapon system.

The impact on 2005 revenues is expected to be $1.65 million, LaBarge said.

The contract has an estimated value of $24 million through 2012.

Work will be performed at LaBarge's Joplin, MO, facility. LaBarge is a contract electronics assembler.

The Navy uses JSOW in its fighter jets as a glide weapon. It uses GPS information to find its target.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Predicted growth rates for IT are at their lowest point since November 2003, according to the latest poll of the nation's CIOs.

Spending growth rates for the next 12 months fell to 4.8% in May, down from 7.9% last month, according to the monthly poll taken by CIO magazine. Spending projections in all categories fell month-over-month, except outsourced IT services.

Menlo Park, CA - OK International, which over the past few years has acquired several leading producers of benchtop assembly systems, is consolidating those product lines under the OK International name, the company said today.

In a statement, the company said that the Metcal, Techcon Systems and Impell lines of workbench products would now be sold under the OK International brand.

SALT LAKE CITY -- CirTran Corp. today announced outside investors have poured $3.75 million in cash into the contract electronics manufacturer's operations in a move that also cut interest payments by more than half.

CirTran issued a $3.75 million convertible debenture to Highgate House Funds, Ltd., a New York investment group. CirTran used the funds to retire separate notes of $1.7 million and $565,000, respectively.

CirTran gained a net cash of $1.24 million, which will be used to fund its operations in the U.S. and China," founder and president Iehab J. Hawatmeh said in a press statement.

CirTran will also save $254,000 -- 57% -- in annual interest payments.

Last week, CirTran reported EBITDA of $26,518 and positive shareholder equity for the first quarter of fiscal 2005.

PHOENIX -- Suntron Corp. is out of compliance with Nasdaq Stock Market rules for continued listing for failure to maintain a minimum market value of publicly held shares of $5 million for 30 consecutive trading days, the company said.

Suntron, a contract assembler, has until Aug. 22 to comply; failure to do so will lead to delisting of the company's common stock.

Suntron said it is evaluating its options.

TEMPE, AZ - New orders and backlogs for manufacturers grew for the 24th straight month in May - the longest stretch of growth in 16 years. But the rate of growth is losing momentum, according to the latest Institute for Supply Management figures, released this morning. The PMI measure of economic activity fell for the sixth straight, slipping 1.9 points sequentially to 51.4%, its lowest point since June 2003.

For the month new orders and backlogs were down 2.0 points and production slid 1.8 points. Inventories at manufacturers ticked down, but customer stock levels jumped six points.

TORONTO -- Celestica Inc. was named 2005 EMS (electronics manufacturing services) Company of the Year by Frost & Sullivan consulting company. The award recognizes Celestica's success in its market diversification strategy; year-over-year revenue growth; technology leadership; and strategic global footprint.

"By working closely with its customers, Celestica has been successful in anticipating their needs and providing them with cost-effective and innovative services that deliver competitive advantage," said Vikram Shanbhag, a senior research analyst at F&S. "Celestica has also successfully diversified its end markets and implemented operational improvement initiatives that have improved revenue growth. This makes Celestica a deserving recipient of the 2005 EMS Company of the Year Award from Frost & Sullivan."

According to a press release, Celestica was chosen based on the following achievements:

* Strong y-o-y revenue growth: For fiscal 2004, revenue increased 31% over 2003.

* Technology leadership: Celestica offers a suite of Green Services to help OEMs comply with emerging environmental legislation, including RoHS and WEEE.

* Strategic global footprint: Celestica is rebalancing its global footprint.

* Diversifying end-market strategy: Celestica expanded into the aerospace and defense, automotive and industrial markets, boasting 152% growth over 2003. The acquisition of Manufacturers Services Ltd (MSL), which closed in 2004, enhanced this progress.

Rome, NY -- The ESD Association's annual symposium on electrical overstress (EOS) and electrostatic discharge (ESD) will be held in Anaheim, CA, from Sept. 11-16. The EOS/ESD Symposium is a week of tutorials, technical sessions, workshops and exhibits.

Over 20 tutorials present a range of topics, including: ESD basics for program managers, ESD on-chip protection in advanced and RF technologies, air ionization, EOS/ESD failure models and mechanisms, in-plant ESD survey and evaluation measurements, and CDM design and characterization. A S20.20 seminar on developing and implementing an ESD control program is also offered. Many tutorials earn credit for professional certification programs: ESD Certified Professional-Device/Design and ESD Certified Professional-Program Manager.

Technical sessions offer over 50 presentations from international authors. Papers address issues in categories such as on-chip RF, on-chip physics/modeling, system-level ESD, factory and materials, and on-chip CMOS.

This year's workshops include topics such as ESD control and design for extremely sensitive devices; automated equipment, ESD and grounding issues; ESD auditing; and silicon technology scaling and ESD reliability.

A featured speaker Kenneth E. Goodson, Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, will present "Advanced Thermal Modeling of Transistors" on Sept. 13.

Exhibits are open to the public and do not require symposium registration.

The ESD Association offers discounts for association members, students and early registration (deadline is July 29). For more info: www.esda.org/symposia.html.