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News

NEWARK, NY -- IEC Electronics, a publicly held EMS firm, today reported second quarter net income of $73,000 on sales of $4.7 million.

For the quarter ended April 1, sales dropped 36% year-on-year, due to a decline in orders from two major customers. Net income dropped from $124,000 last year.

In a press statement, chairman and CEO W. Barry Gilbert said, "The business has been restructured delivering solid gross profits and excellent inventory turns even though our sales reflect the previously reported loss of Motorola and Teradyne, which historically were a majority of the company's business."

IEC has cut $1.5 million annually from its overhead during the past six months, Gilbert added.

The company landed two new accounts that are eventually expected to be worth $6 million to $10 million annually in sales.

Another customer said it would cease its business with IEC in July and bring its work in-house.

The top five customers accounted for 71% of sales for the quarter, down five points from last year.

For the quarter, IEC took restructuring costs of $41,000.

NEENAH, WI -- Despite a jump in sales, top tier EMS provider Plexus Corp. reported a loss of $4.5 million in the second quarter due to costs associated with the closure of a Washington plant.

Revenue rose 20.1% to $305.5 million from $254.3 million last year. The results beat analysts' consensus of $285 million in sales.

Plexus reported a net profit of $3.5 million a year ago.

The compay took $9.8 million in one-time charges related to the closure of the Bothell, WA, manufacturing facility, and to recognize a change in scope for a shop floor data-collection system.

Dean Foate, president and CEO, said, "Looking ahead, we remain confident about attaining revenue for the full fiscal year near the high end of our previously announced target range of 15 to 18%, despite the unsettled outlook for key end markets."

Plexus guided for third-quarter revenue of $305 million to $315 million, and forecasts operating earnings per share of 13 cents to 15 cents.

The company said its bottom line in the fourth quarter should continue to benefit from operational improvements, which will include advancing the new facility in Penang, Malaysia, to a modest profit.

SAN JOSE -- Sanmina-SCI Corp. today reported a stunning net loss of $1.04 billion for its second fiscal quarter ended April 2.

The EMS maker, the third largest in the world, said revenues rose 1% to $2.89 billion, at the low end of previous guidance, while non-GAAP net income was up 9% to $29.3 million. However, it was sunk by one-time charges of $600 million for impairment of goodwill. It was the 18th straight quarter of one-time charges for Sanmina-SCI.

SAN FRANCISCO - Fabrinet, an engineering and electromechanical manufacturing services company, will purchase the manufacturing facilities located in Fuzhou, China, from JDS Uniphase.

The deal is expected to be completed by June 30. Terms were not revealed.

Last week, JDS said it would transfer its Ewing and Mountain Lakes, NJ, manufacturing facilities to Fabrinet. JDS has contracted assembly work to Fabrinet since 2000.

The Fuzhou deal includes the 225,000 sq. ft. Fuzhou plant, which makes optical components, and its 500 employees. Fuzhou port sits at the mouth of the Minjiang River in South China.

Last December, Fabrinet acquired JDS Uniphase's manufacturing facilities in Singapore and Bintan, Indonesia.

HERNDON, VA - Saying industry "must have means of differentiating RoHS-compliant products," a leading industry consortium today called for the use of unique part numbers for such parts.

The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative says the majority of its OEM and EMS members "strongly support" the change. In a statement, iNEMi said:

"Demonstrating and certifying compliance with RoHS is a complex undertaking made more difficult by the electronics industry's distributed design and manufacturing supply chains and the incompatibility between the current tin-lead (SnPb) and RoHS-compliant lead-free manufacturing processes. Industry must have means of differentiating RoHS-compliant products that is common across all of the companies involved in, or contributing to, product manufacture, including component suppliers, component distributors, EMS providers, OEMs and their design partners. We are convinced that the only practical way to accomplish this goal is through separate part numbers that can clearly identify RoHS compliance and manufacturing process compatibility.

iNEMI said support for the switch comes from Alcatel, Celestica, Cray, Dell, Delphi, HP, Intel, Jabil Circuit, Lucent, Microsoft, Plexus, Sanmina-SCI, Solectron, StorageTek and Sun Microsystems.

"Many of our members feel very strongly about this issue, and they came to us, asking that iNEMI issue a position statement to go on record as supporting separate part numbers," said Jim McElroy, executive director and CEO of iNEMI. iNEMI supplied statements from several members supporting the position.

"Celestica is a strong supporter of the introduction of new part numbers for RoHS-compliant components," said Dan Shea, chief technology officer, Celestica. "By assigning unique part numbers for compliant parts, global suppliers would greatly support proper component segregation and handling - driving a smoother transition to RoHS compliance for the electronics industry as a whole."

According to Vivek Gupta, program manager for Intel's Assembly Technology Division, "Intel requires its suppliers to change part numbers when they transition to RoHS-compliant parts and follow the established change control process. Suppliers are expected to mark their RoHS-compliant products per established JEDEC/IPC standards and implement controls to prevent mixing of RoHS-compliant parts."

DES PLAINES, IL — Kester will host a lead-free seminar titled, "Project 2005: Achieving Lead-free RoHS Assembly" on May 10 in Orange County, CA and May 12 in Tijuana, Mexico. Guest speakers will present on behalf of KIC and Metcal.

The seminar claims to offer proven, practical information on both lead-free assembly and RoHS compliance. The seminar does not concentrate on specific consumer applications. It offers information and case studies to make reliable lead-free products that are RoHS compliant.

Presentations and discussions will include: lead-free and RoHS directive overview; supply changes and procurement issues; board/component requirements; lead-free alloy selection for SMT, wave and rework; lead-free wave and SMT process optimization; impact of dual systems; BGA rework practices; hand soldering process changes; lead-free RoHS reliability; field rework and training; and training and documentation.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided. Attendees will receive a lead-free assembly technical manual containing presentation materials; technical white papers; and a free subscription to the Lead-Free Connection Newsletter.

For more info, visit www.kester.com.

Minneapolis -- Sponsored by the SMTA, the Pan Pacific Microelectronics symposium focuses on the critical business markets and technologies of microelectronic packaging, interconnection, microsystems, nanotechnology,and assembly. The symposium is scheduled for January 17-19, 2006 at the Marriott Waikola Hotel, Hawaii.

The program committee seeking participants to present recent research results on the following topics:
Business:
Cross Cultural Management, Economics and Cost Analysis, Green Manufacturing (Energy Conservation, Pb- and Halogen-free, etc.), Manufacturing Management, Outsourcing Strategies, Roadmaps.

Packaging:
3-D and Stacked Packages, BGA, Chip Scale, Display Drivers, Embedded Devices, Flip Chip, Integrated Passive Devices (IPDs), MCM/SiP, RF and Microwave, Thermal Management, Wafer Level Assembly.

Interconnection:
Advanced PWBs, Co-Fired Ceramics, Flat Panel Displays, Flex / Flex Rigid, HDI, Microvias, Shaped Circuits, Thin and Thick Film Materials.

Markets:
Characterizations, Penetration Strategies, Segmentation, Technology Drivers, Trends and Forecasts.

Assembly:
Automation Control, Component Placement, Direct Chip Attach, Materials and Processes, Repair and Rework, Test and Troubleshooting.

Microsystems and Nanotechnology:
Actuators, DFX, MEMS/MOEMS, Nanomaterials, Nanosystems, Optoelectronics, Partitioning Strategies, Sensors.

Abstracts should be submitted online by July 15, 2005: smta.org/pan_pac.

Carlsbad, CA - Asymtek signed a new team of sales representatives, OSTEC Enterprise Ltd., to market its automated fluid dispensing systems in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. OSTEC is headquartered in Moscow and has another facility in Kiev, Ukraine.

OSTEC will provide customers with on-site equipment service, training, applications support and spare parts.

West Conshohocken, PA -- At the end of March, Heraeus Circuit Materials Division acquired the ultra-fine-pitch solder powder technology and business from Welco GmbH (Potsdam, Germany).

According to the companies, the continued miniaturization of electronics assemblies has resulted in a greater demand for solder pastes with very fine solder powder particles that can no longer be manufactured economically using conventional methods. Heraeus decided to acquire expertise by taking over the patented technology and production facilities for the manufacture of ultra-fine-pitch solder powders from Welco.

WASHINGTON -- Manufacturing output edged down 0.1% in March, and the factory operating rate fell to 78%, according to the latest data from the Federal Reserve. Durable goods declined 0.2%, reflecting a drop in the output of motor vehicles and parts and in the production of nonmetallic mineral products.

Computer and electronics products advanced 1.1% and rose at an annual rate of 22.6% in the first quarter. Computer and peripheral equipment rose at an annual rate of 12.7%, and the output of semiconductors and related components advanced at an annual rate of 39%.

Although the production of communications equipment fell in March, the index increased at an annual rate of more than 24%, the Federal Reserve said.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - The 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards fell 4.5% year-on-year in March, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Bookings fell 10%, continuing their first-quarter slog.

A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, which takes the poll, 30% of the shipments reported were produced offshore, down three points from February.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio dropped 0.03 points to 1.05, remaining above 1.0 for the fourth month in a row. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

The ratio for rigid PCBs was flat at 1.04, while that of flexible circuits dropped 0.16 points to 1.07.

Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 9% in March vs. a year ago. Bookings were down 2.7% for the month. Flex sales grew 21.3%, but bookings fell 35.9%. Value-added services made up 55% of the shipment value of flex circuits.

Year-to-date flex bookings are down 2.3% and shipments are up 29.5%. Rigid shipments are down 4.6% and bookings are off 4.8%. Shipments of all boards are up just 1% and bookings are down 4.3%.

Sequentially, combined shipments were up 7.1% over February, while bookings were up 8.3%. Rigid shipments were up 8.7% and bookings climbed 11.1% sequentially. Flex shipments were up 0.6% and bookings were down 4.8% against revised February numbers.

Seventy percent of PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 75% of rigid PCB and 47% of flexible circuit shipments in March, IPC said.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.

Jersey City, NJ - To assist electronics assemblers in the transition to lead-free processing, Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group and Speedline Technologies have developed a Lead-Free Implementation Checklist. The list provides details that should be confirmed for assembly equipment, materials, shop floor segregation, training of personnel, process validation, process refinement and yield enhancement.

The list was compiled based on the process engineering and R&D experience gathered by Joe Belmonte, product manager of Speedline's Advanced Technology Group, and Chrys Shea, manager of R&D Applications Engineering at Cookson.

According to Shea, "Our informal discussion on the subject very quickly evolved into a formal process of collecting and cataloging all of the information required to run lead-free processes. Our overriding goal was to help our customers plan and execute the lead-free transition by not only providing a methodical framework to follow, but also alerting them to some of the potential pitfalls they may not have previously envisioned."

The list is available at: alphametals.com/lead_free/tech_learning3.html and speedlinetech.com/lead_free/index.aspx.