News
PALO ALTO -- In a report released on Forbes.com, research firm Banc of America Securities said Agilent Technologies' new management may consider spinning off its Automated Test or Semiconductor Products businesses.
Banc
of America said: "These businesses have the lowest operating margins
and suffer the biggest swings in revenues making them more difficult to
manage."
The group cautioned that spinning off low margin businesses may not help the stock price.
"The
remaining businesses will deliver a higher blended margin," the
research firm said. "But operating margins for the remaining businesses
will be at or below comparable companies in those segments."
Agilent's
representatives declined to comment, citing a company policy to "not
endorse or respond to any third-party research or opinions."
"I think the Representatives are becoming attuned to manufacturing and our industry," Matt Holzmann, president of Christopher Group, told Circuits Assembly. "There's a growing awareness that [manufacturing] is our middle class."
ROUND ROCK, TX - The United States Department of the Interior's National Park Service has chosen Dell to immediately remove and recycle more than 2,000 computer systems.
"We are standardizing on Dell Asset Recovery Services because of the commitment from Dell to recycle these systems in accordance with Environmental Protection Agency standards," said Dom Nessi, chief information officer for the National Park Service. "We were spending lots of time coordinating the disposal of our outdated computers which was difficult to manage, provided little return on investment and caused concern about where they were ending up."
Dell could not confirm the makes of the systems to be recycled, but said it does recycle any make or model. The company is in talks with the NPS regarding future computing needs.
The National Park Service previously relied on its own processes to store, donate or auction its outdated computer systems. By choosing quality Dell services, the National Park Service is creating an easier way to properly dispose of older technology.
Government officials said Dell's willingness to work with minority and women-owned businesses to help refurbish and recycle technology products also was important in their decision process.
"The National Park Service employees can now turn over their equipment disposal function to Dell so they can focus on serving their community," said Hord Tipton, CIO for the Department of the Interior. "Our partnership with Dell will bring more value to our employees and constituents by helping us be more environmentally aware while also saving time and money."
Dell's ARS unit disposes of used computer equipment and peripherals. The unit "contribute(s) to the overall services business revenue," a Dell spokesman told Circuits Assembly.
The company will install a reported 100 SMT lines in the plant, according to a report in a Japanese language publication translated by Dominique Numakura's EPTE newsletter.
UMC expects sales of 52 billion yen this year, the report said.
A book-to-bill of 0.80 means that $80 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month.
The three-month average of worldwide bookings in April was $1 billion, up 1.5% above revised March figures of $988.4 million but down 37% year-on-year.
The three-month average of worldwide billings in April was $1.25 billion, down 1.6% from revised March levels and 10% from a year ago.
"A minor decrease in billings and a commensurate increase in bookings slightly raises the book-to-bill ratio," said Stanley T. Myers, president and CEO of SEMI. "However, we are in a stasis period, where we have yet to see a significant change in business for North American-based providers of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment."
BALTIMORE -- North American production of printed circuit boards will be flat this year, a leading analyst predicted.
Speaking Thursday at IPC's semiannual market research meetings, Dr. Hayao Nakahara said that production of circuit boards in North American rose 11% to about $5 billion last year, but that 2005's soft start makes it unlikely that growth will be achieved this year.
Dr. Nakahara, a PCD&M columnist who is widely recognized as the world's top authority on PCB production, said that North American-based PCB makers produced $890 million worth of high technology boards worldwide last year. Dr. Nakahara defined high technology as boards of 18 or more layers. The U.S. remains the top producer worldwide of such boards, with a 54% share, Dr. Nakahara said.
The figures do not include backplanes; the U.S. built $300 million worth of backplanes in 2004; about half the worldwide total, according to Dr. Nakahara.
However, North America's share of the overall PCB market is 14%, down from about 40% in 2000. Most of North America's loss has been China's gain: the nation has surged to 25% share, up more than 15 points during that period.
From 1995 to 2000 North American companies spent $4.8 billion on acquisitions of PCB capacity. Of that sum, just $1 billion worth remains open, Dr. Nakahara said.
PCB Production Forecast, 2005-07
2005 2006 2007
China 34.0 26.0 16.0
N. America 6.0 2.0 1.0
Japan 1.0 1.2 1.4
Europe 1.0 1.0 1.0
S. Korea 22.0 15.0 10.0
Taiwan 15.0 7.0 5.0
Thailand 5.5 4.0 4.0
Source: N.T. Information Ltd., May 2005
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - The co-located SMTA International and ATExpo show on Sept 25-29, in Rosemont, IL, will once again feature the Emerging Technologies Summit. The summit is a series of three paper sessions and a panel discussion (moderated bySteve Greathouse of Intel Corp.) addressing the latest trend in electronics manufacturing and assembly.
The first session, Roadmaps, will feature papers on iNEMI's Optoelectronics Roadmap for 2004, Emerging Nanotechnology and Its Effect on Electronics Manufacturing, and Free Silicon Marketing Strategy.
The next session, Turning Lead Into Gold, will feature papers on Gold Bump Technologies, Flip Chip Ultrasonic Gold-to-Gold Interconnect for High Bump Count Devices, Adhesive Flip Chip for Large Arrayed Devices, and Packaging of High-Power LEDs Using Au Studbump Interconnects.
The last session, Advanced Power Technology, will feature papers on mPowerChip: A Solution for Integrated Power for Microsystems and Integration of Active and Passive Components Using Chip in Polymer Technology.
For further details and for event registration, visit smta.org/smtai/
Vienna - AT&S, Europe's largest PCB manufacturer, began construction last week on a second plant in Shanghai. When it comes online in 15 months, the 75,000m² production facility will triple the company's capacity in China.
"The second plant in Shanghai will definitively put us in the position as the most modern high performance printed circuit board manufacturer in the high-tech segment," said Willi Dörflinger, chairman, in a statement. "The new capacity will come just at the right time in the second half of 2006, enabling us to tend to the climbing demand in the HDI microvia area."
Upon completion of the plant, located next to the existing plant, about 50% of AT&S' global capacity will come from its plants in India and China.The company's step toward Asian expansion takes place exactly four years after the cornerstone was laid for the first plant.
reported first -quarter losses from continuing operations of $24.2 million, down from a loss of $3.8 million last year. The company posted net sales of $20.2 million for the quarter ended March 31, down from $23 million.
The total net loss, which includes discontinued operations, was $39.4 million,
down from a loss of $6.6 million in the year-ago quarter.
The sales drop was due to significantly reduced EMS
sales in the U.S., the company said, primarily from customers rescheduling orders to
later in 2005.
Gross margin dollars were $2.6 million less than in the comparable quarter in 2004. Selling, general and administrative expenses rose, due to increased severance, consulting, accounting and legal expenses
During the quarter TFS took a $2.5 million loss on assets relating to ERP implementation,
and $900,000 for costs associated with continuing lease obligations for vacated facilities.
The company also took a $12.9 million charge for the impairment of goodwill for its EMS business
and large panel display business in Marlborough.
Ina statement, the company said that the substantial losses sustained in the past
several years has led to the retention of SG Cowen & Co. review strategic alternatives aimed
at maximizing stockholder value. Based on SG Cowen's advice, the company has exited
the display business and has signed a nonbinding letter of intent to sell its RF operations in Manila,
leaving its EMS operations in Penang, Malaysia, and Redmond, WA. It said it is looking at several merger
or recapitalization options.
"Our alternatives include sale of all or part of our EMS business, merging with another company,
recapitalization and continuation of our business, or seeking joint venture partners.
TFS guided for flat second-quarter revenue from ongoing operations. "For the remainder of 2005, our focus
will be on cost reductions and restructuring our EMS business to achieve cash flow breakeven. We believe that
the combination of our new product introduction and medical and military operations in Redmond with our
high-volume, cost-effective offshore operations in Penang will provide a strong foundation for our EMS business in the future."
At the end of the quarter TFS had cash and restricted cash of $12.4 million vs. $16.2 million
at the end of the fourth quarter 2004.
Year-on-year, days sales outstanding rose to 46 from 38, inventory turns were flat at 5.1 and cash conversion
cycle rose to 62 days from 58.
PALO ALTO, CA --Hewlett-Packard, one of the largest customers of the EMS industry (including companies such as Flextronics, Sanmina-SCI, Jabil, Solectron and Celestica) has faced sluggish demand and an inventory reduction, according to its latest earnings call. The company's total revenue slowed to 7% year on year vs. 10% last quarter.
According to Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore, strong (10%) sequential growth from HP's business critical servers offset slowing industry standard server revenue and a 6% decline in storage from last year. The division's operating margin improved to 4.4% vs. 1.8% last year.
HP experienced a rebound in printer demand in the April quarter, with sales up 5% year-on-year following aggressive price cuts. Home hardware sales increased 3%, while business printers grew 4% from last quarter (Flextronics has the most exposure to home hardware sales while Jabil has the most exposure to business printers, DB said).
Revenue from PCs grew 6%, decelerating sharply from last quarter's 11% growth -- as desktop growth fell to 1% from 8%. The commercial business increased 3%, with a 10% consumer growth (Sanmina-SCI manufactures commercial desktops for HP).
DB also reported that HP is selling two PC manufacturing plants to Hon Hai in Australia and India.
HP reduced inventory by $656 million and days of inventories to 35 (the lowest level since the second quarter of 2002). Roughly $500 million of the decline was in the printing division.
DB analysts noted that demand remains lackluster and pricing remains aggressive throughout the IT HW industry. In addition, HP's new management team could implement significant changes to its supply chain in an effort to drive lower costs, creating risk to EMS vendors' existing relationships with HP. That said, HP's inventory management meaningfully improved in the quarter.
The first opportunity is for Nepcon Shenzhen, Aug. 30-Sept. 2. The SMTA is looking for papers related to Implementing Lead-Free (such as case studies from OEMS and CMs). The program will also focus on Lead-Free Assembly Materials and Processes.
Papers presented in Chinese are preferred. Your company must provide translation for any English submissions. Abstracts need to be emailed to joann@smta.org by May 30.
The SMTA is also soliciting workshops or courses to be presented throughout 2005 and 2006 in various cities in China. A fee and travel expenses will be provided. Courses must be taught in Mandarin (handouts can be in English). Course proposals should be submitted to joann@smta.org by June 17.
The final opportunity is for Productronica in Munich, Nov.15-18. Presentations in German are preferred. Email your abstract by June 17 to joann@smta.org.
Minneapolis, MN - The Surface Mount Technology Association (SMTA) is hosting its SMTA/CAVE Harsh Environment Electronics Workshop on June 28-29 in Indianapolis. Jointly organized by the SMTA and Auburn University- Center for Advanced Vehicle Electronics, the workshop addresses the concerns related to harsh environment electronics and the challenges facing the electronics community.
It is intended to bring together the needs from end-users with the capabilities of the research community and industrial supply base. In addition, industrial needs for non-automotive vehicle requirements are addressed.
Harsh Environment Electronics Sessions will include:
Thermal Interface Materials
Component Reliability for Harsh Environments
Module Overmolding for Harsh Environments
Systems Design for Harsh Environments
Lead-Free Soldering and Solder Alternatives
Register by May 27 to receive a 10% discount.
Full workshop details and on-line registration can be found at:
http://www.smta.org/education/symposia/symposia.cfm#harsh.
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