Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

ANGLETON, TX -- Contract manufacturer Benchmark Electronics Inc. today reported sales of $510 million for the March quarter, up 6% from $481 million last year.

First-quarter net income was $16.9 million, up 11% from $15.2 million a year ago.

Cary T. Fu, president and chief executive, called the results "excellent in light of the soft economic conditions seen recently in the technology marketplace."

For the quarter, operating margin was 4.4%, and return on invested capital was 13.8%.

As of March 31 Benchmark had cash and short-term investments of $344 million and no outstanding debt. 

Inventories increased by $39 million to $295 million; inventory turns were 6.4 times.

Benchmark guided for second quarter revenue of $525 million to $550 million.

OYSTER BAY, NY -- A new war among automakers is on the verge of breaking out. The battle: safety as the key differentiator for vehicle lines.

"There are a host of cutting-edge safety systems in varying stages of development that will alter the consumer's perception of what makes for a safe vehicle," says ABI Research senior automotive analyst Robert LaGuerra. "What is interesting is that automakers disagree about how they define a safe vehicle."

LaGuerra adds that automakers are tackling the issue of safety from varying perspectives. From electronic stability control, adaptive cruise control and telematics systems, to blind-spot detection, lane-departure warning, driver monitoring, and pedestrian-based safety systems, all will be used in some combination to make for a safer vehicle.

Automakers such as Honda and Mercedes are among the first to introduce systems promoting pedestrian safety, while GM may be the first to introduce both ESC and reactionary safety systems such as OnStar as standard equipment across all its North American models.

ABI cautions that there are still issues to be overcome, including high systems costs, the ability to have on-board safety systems communicate with each other, decisions about how much control should be taken away from the driver in an emergency, plus software and processor limitations in assessing an emergency situation on a real-time basis. ABI suggests that further systems integration will not only enhance the level of safety, but help reduce overall system costs.

Minneapolis -- The Harsh Environment Electronics Workshop cosponsored by SMTA and Auburn University will be held June 28-29 in Indianapolis. The workshop will address concerns related to harsh environment electronics and challenges for auto electronics. It aims to combine the needs of end-users with the capabilities from research and industry.

Will addresses the challenges of meeting expanding temperature ranges (-55°C to +150°/200°C) with increased vibration, higher packaging density and longer reliability. Next-generation requirements for automotive electronics are explored from the systems level and potential supply based solutions are presented.

Industrial needs for non-automotive vehicle requirements will be addressed, with session topics on:
- Thermal Interface Materials
- Component Reliability
- Module Overmolding
- Systems Design
- Lead-Free Soldering and Solder Alternatives

The workshop will also feature a panel discussion on lead-free for harsh applications.

Bannockburn, IL - As the electronics industry races to meet the EU's RoHS Directive, IPC and Soldertec Global --a division of Tin Technology-- are sponsoring the third International Conference on Lead-Free Electronics on June 7-10 in Barcelona.

Critical lead-free issues include new alloys and materials evaluations, inspection changes, tin whiskers, lead-free on advanced packages like chip scale and flip chip, and reliability. Assembly operations will face increased assembly costs (perhaps 15% higher) and will impact areas beyond manufacturing such as field support, sales, marketing and training.

Conference topics and educational courses will cover:

Policy development: European/Asian/other legislation or voluntary activity on hazardous materials and recycling; Legislative compliance and policy enforcement methods;

Supply chain issues: Standards for marking and test; Materials declarations, part number, obsolescence, etc.;

Production issues: Design for lead free production; Component solder, board development, availability and lead-free compatibility; Examples of implementation; Reflow, wave, hand soldering, inspection, repair, rework and test;

Cost issues: Tin whiskers; Reliability test data and method developments; High reliability product sectors (automotive, aerospace, etc.)

Environmental considerations: Toxicity and risk; Recycling; Substitutes for other hazardous substances.

HERNDON, VA -- A new standard for simplifying materials declaration being jointly developed by several leading trade groups will be circulated for industry review in June.

In a joint statement, IPC, iNEMI and RosettaNet said the draft of IPC-1752 will be released for a 60-day industry review on June 1.

The standard will integrate existing efforts, including recommendations from a pair of iNEMI projects plus RosettaNet's e-business process standards for material composition.

SHANGHAI -- UGS, a provider of product lifecycle management software and services, announced that Alcatel-Shanghai Bell has selected its Tecnomatix eM-Execution software for its board assembly operations and to provide traceability support and lead-free compliance.

Alcatel-Shanghai Bell will implement eM-Execution to provide full component, product and process traceability to comply with both customer and regulatory requirements. Alcatel-Shanghai Bell is also the launch customer for the new eM-Execution Lead Free solution as it prepares to meet the July 1, 2006 RoHS regulations.

"As the telecom solutions provider, we will continue to improve our product and process traceability to ensure quick response to market demands. We rely on UGS to further improve our shop floor data collection, analysis and management to meet the new Lead Free regulations," said Martin Lehnich, executive vice president of Alcatel-Shanghai Bell.

Tecnomatix is the digital manufacturing brand of UGS, which acquired Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. on April 1.

LIVINGSTON, SCOTLAND -- Cadence Design has closed its design services unit in Scotland's "Silicon Glen" and up to 60 staff are expected to lose their jobs.

In a published report, the company confirmed it had put its local design services staff on a 30-day consultation period from April 10, and that "a significant number" of the 90 staff were likely to lose their jobs.

Tim Barnes, vice president for marketing at Cadence, said, "We made a strategic decision two years ago to focus on our software products, which design and develop integrated circuits for semiconductor makers and others.

"As part of this strategy, we must balance our design-service capabilities as makes sense. Our core business is software."

ST. LOUIS -- LaBarge Inc., a provider of electronics manufacturing services, has fully integrated a completely lead-free manufacturing process into its 
Pittsburgh facility, the company said today. 

LaBarge handles materials, manufacture and testing of assemblies for customers 
whose products must comply with new European environmental legislation.

Everything from components sourcing to soldering applications has been updated, 
the company said.

Londonderry, NH - Cobar Solder Products, the U.S. subsidiary of Cobar Group, today celebrated its first anniversary.

In a press release, the supplier of soldering materials said its customer base is expanding.

In a statement, general manager Lance Larrabee said Cobar's "vast experience with VOC-free and lead-free products [is] a tremendous benefit to U.S. companies converting to lead-free soldering, since our products have proven their compatibility in factories around the globe."

Earlier this year, Cobar introduced a low-VOC soldering flux for lead-free soldering in wave and selective soldering systems.

WEST CHICAGO -- Samtec led all suppliers of connectors last year in customer satisfaction with lead times, according to a just released survey.

With a score of 4.829, Samtec outpolled Phoenix Contact, which scored 4.265.

Respondents to the survey, which was taken last year, described its satisfaction with each supplier on a scale of 1 to 6, with 6 being "extremely satisfied." A score of 3.50 or above indicates a degree of satisfaction. The industry average was 3.902, Bishop said.

A total of 1,604 persons responded to the poll, which was conducted by Bishop & Associates, a consulting firm. Of the respondents, 41.1% were in engineering and 40.5% were in purchasing. Just under half (49.4%) the respondents were with OEMs, while 20% were with EMS firms and 18.3% with distributors.

Finishing third was Tompeter, at 4.232, followed by W.L. Gore (4.219) and Weidmuller (4.172).

Rounding out the top 10 were Johnson Components (4.163), EDAC (4.148), Molex (4.108), Teradyne (4.07) and Kycon (4.056).

PLANO, TX, and HERZLIA, Israel - UGS Corp. has completed the acquisition of the outstanding equity of Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd., a provider of manufacturing process management software, for approximately $228 million in cash.

The acquisition is UGS' fourth since launching independent operations in May 2004.

The PLM software provider will market Tecnomatix as its digital manufacturing brand to include both Tecnomatix and former E-factory software. The company will offer a fully integrated solution of Tecnomatix MPM to UGS Teamcenter software users while continuing to offer the open standalone MPM solution integrated with the PLM environment of choice for its customers.

UGS plans to announce additional digital manufacturing-related technology enhancements later in 2005.

Atlanta, GA — More than 700 PCB design and engineering professionals, managers and quality engineers were introduced to a new high-reliability PCB technology for extreme environments, including life-sensitive and high-temp lead-free applications, during a live Webinar hosted by PBR Seminars on Wednesday.

Sponsored by Sierra Proto Express, a Sunnyvale, CA, PCB fabricator, the "Tomorrow's Technology, Today" Webinar featured presentations by Sierra Proto Express CEO Ken Bahl and VP of R&D Bob Tarzwell.The seminar introduced attendees to the first true lead-free compatible PCBs that are guaranteed not to fail in process or use in a lead-free assembly environment, and addressed two urgent needs in the PCB Industry:

· Complying with the European Lead-Free RoHS initiative by July 1, 2006.

· Fabrication of new high-reliability PCBs for extreme environments and life-sensitive applications that can withstand up to 2,000 cycles of -45 to +145˚ C.

The Webinar reviewed the needs associated with lead-free printed circuits and discussed materials suitable for meeting the lead-free directives. It is now available for free on-demand viewing.

Three additional technical Webinars featuring industry experts Doug Brooks and Rick Hartley will debut in April and May. For more information, visit www.pbrseminars.com.