Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

ATLANTA, GA — UP Media Group Inc. is seeking abstracts for PCB Design Conference East on Oct. 10 - 14, at The Center of New Hampshire in Manchester, NH. Sponsored by Printed Circuit Design & Manufacture and Circuits Assembly, PCB East (pcbeast.com) is a conference and exhibition for the design and manufacture of advanced circuits, PCBs and semiconductor packages.

The five-day conference is made up of a three-day Technical Conference (Tuesday - Thursday) that features short courses and papers, and two days (Monday and Friday) of Professional Development one-day and two-day courses. In addition to an exciting show floor of industry vendors, this year's show will feature free networking and special events.

Papers and/or presentations for the Technical Conference should be 30-minute paper sessions, one-hour lectures or panel sessions, two-hour workshops or panel sessions, or half-day (3.5 hour) seminars. Papers and/or presentations also are sought for a Professional Development Curriculum of one-day and two-day tutorials.

To be considered as a speaker/presenter, fill out the online submission form or send an email to Conference Chair Andy Shaughnessy: ashaughnessy@upmediagroup.com, by March 4.

Papers and presentations might cover the following topics:

- High speed, high frequency and signal integrity

- Lead-free processes and their effect on PCB design

- Impedance and crosstalk control

- EMI/EMC analysis

- Embedded passives and active devices

- Thermal analysis

- RF and microwave

- Packaging and components

- Area arrays

- FPGA design and implementation

- Flexible circuitry

- HDI design and technologies

- PCB design/layout techniques

- Component library creation and management

- Design for manufacture, test and assembly

- Design (including analog, digital and power supplies)

- PCB fabrication

- Soldering

- Surface finishes

- Industry forecasts

- Business and design/supply chain issues

OYSTER BAY, NY - Anti-terrorism efforts may give electronics a boost as U.S. Customs aim to speed processing of incoming shipments. That could give RFID an edge in the battle for the electronic container tracking market.

Customs recently gave indications it will grant shippers meeting security guidelines expedited processing at U.S. ports. According to a new study by research firm ABI Research, continuing government programs will be the main impetus for electronic container tracking.

CBP is taking C-TPAT a step further by adding another tier of security, dubbed "C-TPAT Plus." This new program offers shippers immediate turnaround with no inspection upon arrival, in exchange for implementing more stringent requirements. These new requirements include technologies that can monitor tampering from the point of origin and provide inspectors with a record of events.

SPOKANE, WA, Jan. 31 -- Key Tronic Corp., a provider of electronic manufacturing services, today reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $51.2 million, up 57% from a year ago and 5% sequentially.

For the quarter ended Jan. 1, the company had net income of $490,000, reversing a net loss of $287,000 last year. Net income was $266,000 last quarter.

First-sales are up 49% from 2004, while net income ($756,000) is up more than $1 million.

"We are pleased with our continued revenue and earnings growth in the second quarter," said Jack Oehlke, president and chief executive, in a statement. "Our growth was primarily driven by increased production on programs for established customers involving gaming technology and specialty printer accessories and components. During the quarter, we added to our printed circuit board capacity to address the needs of those customers."

Key Tronic expects third-quarter revenues to be flat to down 5% from the second quarter. New programs from consumer and medical technology customers that begin later this year should boost revenues, the firm said.

"We anticipate that our performance in the second half of fiscal 2005 will be roughly comparable to the first half," Oehlke said.

ATLANTA -- Siemens Energy & Automation today completed of the sale of its electronics manufacturing center business to EPIC Technologies. Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

Effective today, all current employees will transfer to EPIC. The two plants, located in Johnson City, TN, and South Lebanon, OH, employ a combined 500 workers.

Siemens purchased the Johnson City facility in 1991 from Texas Instruments, and acquired the South Lebanon operations from Eaton Corp. in 2000.

The sites manufacture electronics assemblies and other devices. EPIC will continue contract manufacturing at the facilities and will assume responsibility for Siemens' current orders.

"We are highly committed to maintaining the level of quality and customer service that EMC established under the Siemens brand and look forward to bringing a high level of lean manufacturing efficiency and EMS industry expertise to these operations," said John Sammut, president and CEO of EPIC, in a press release.

WILSONVILLE, OR -- Mentor Graphics reported record revenues of $214.9 million for its fourth quarter on strong demand for its IC verification and newer printed circuit board design tools. GAAP net income was $15.8 million, up $2.8 million.

"We saw significant momentum from our newer, emerging products as we received significant orders in cabling, embedded software, high speed board design and coverage-driven verification," chairman and CEO Wally Rhines said in a press release.

For the quarter bookings rose 35%. All regions performed well with Japan and Pacific Rim bookings up over 100%, Europe up 45% and North America up 15% over a year ago. Bookings were up 20% for the year.

Revenue by region was 40% North America, 30% Europe, 15% Japan and 15% Pacific Rim.

The company took one-time charges of $4.9 million, primarily for acquisitions and restructuring.

Pro forma gross margins were down slightly, to 86.7%.

"While we see no sign of an upturn for the overall EDA industry, we note that Mentor and other companies like us with young product lines continue to perform well in this environment," said Greg Hinckley, president.

The firm's book-to-bill is at its highest level since 1996 and backlogs are at their highest point since 2000.

Separately, Mentor guided for Q1 sales of $177 million and 2005 revenue growth of 7%, to $760 million.

SAN JOSE - Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached a record $213 billion in 2004, a year-on-year increase of 28% from 2003, the Semiconductor Industry Association reported today. December chip sales declined 3.5% sequentially to $18.4 billion, in line with historical seasonality.

It was the first time since 2000 that global chip sales surpassed $200 billion.

December sales were 14.6% higher than December 2003. Fourth-quarter sales, at $55.1 billion, declined 0.8% sequentially.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - The December 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 8.7% year-on-year, according to the latest poll of U.S. PCB fabricators. Bookings shot up 30.6%, a sharp rebound from November.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio was 1.04, up 0.08 from November. November was marked the first time the indicator had dropped below 1.0 since April 2003, said IPC, which tracks the data.

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.

Separately, the ratios were 0.93 for rigid PCBs and 1.41 for flexible circuits.

Rigid boards, estimated by IPC to make up 82% of all domestic PCBs, actually slid in December, with shipments falling 1.3% and bookings down 6.1%. Flex sales grew 32%, and bookings rose - no typo - 274%.

For the year rigid shipments rose 16%, bookings 6.6%. Flexible shipments grew 67.4% and bookings were up 104.3%.

For the year, shipments rose 26.5% while bookings jumped 25.4%. For the month, shipments rose 1.6% and bookings 73.4% vs. November.

Flex sales include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits.

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

Tempe, AZ - The manufacturing sector grew in January for the 20th consecutive month, despite a drop in new orders and backlogs. Production reversed a three month slide, said the Institute for Supply Management.

Calling the inventory growth "significant," ISM chairman Norbert Ore said, the PMI reflects "continuing strength in manufacturing. However, manufacturers continue to struggle with prices, particularly for energy.

The PMI measure of economic activity fell 0.9 points sequentially from the revised December number, to 56.4%. New orders fell 6.1 points to 56.5%. However, production rose 1.1 points to 57.8%. Employment was up 4.8 points, to 58.1%.

Electronic Components and Equipment, and Industrial and Commercial Equipment and Computers were among the sectors reporting growth.

LAGUNA, Philippines - EMS provider Integrated Microelectronics Inc. will produce the RadarGolf Handheld golf ball finder device designed by Radar Golf Inc.

IMI president and chief executive Arthur R. Tan said, "We began working with Radar Golf in December 2003 and it is very exciting to see this breakthrough product now so close to coming to market."

Earlier this week, Radar Golf announced in a press release that independent lab tests found the company's patented ball performed equal to or better than competitive balls from Titleist, Callaway, Nike and Maxfli. The tests measured both distance and spin. The ball conforms to U.S. Golf Association standards.

The novel ball contains proprietary ball positioning system technology. When used with the RadarGolf device, balls can be detected from 30 to 100 feet away.

First shipments are scheduled for June.

ELKHART, IN -- CTS Corp., about to be merged, posted its best sales quarterly sales results since the second quarter of 2001.

The company today reported fourth-quarter revenues of $142.5 million, up 10%, sequentially and 8% year-on-year.

Net earnings were $6.6 million, vs. $3.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Full-year revenues of $531.3 million topped 2003 revenues by 15%. The company, which makes electronics gear, posted net earnings of $20 million, well above 2003 earnings of $12.6 million.

WESTFORD, MA, - MatrixOne Inc. said second-quarter revenues increased 31% to $35.1 million from $26.9 million in the same period last year.

The net loss was $400,000, compared to a net loss of $7.2 million in the same period last year.

Software license revenues increased 64% to $15.4 million from $9.4 million last year.

"We are pleased to report another very positive quarter with strong sequential and year-over-year revenue growth and improved bottom-line results. Our operating performance during the second quarter reflects the continued improvements in our company-wide sales execution, expanded implementations within our existing customer base and the adoption of our solutions by strategic new customers who are fueling the growth of the PLM market," said Mark F. O'Connell, president and CEO of MatrixOne.

FRAMINGHAM, MA - Worldwide IT spending reached $965 billion in 2004 and will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 6% from 2004 to 2008, says a new research report.

Recovery is expected in hardware sales worldwide, with revenues forecast to reach $465 billion by 2008, IDC said today. The research firm predicts robust spending from consumer, communications and media, and government.

Banking, discrete manufacturing and government are the largest IT buyers.

U.S. IT spending will reach $416 billion in 2005, up 5.8% from 2004.

In a press release, IDC said, "These results indicate a positive outlook for the U.S. and worldwide IT market, particularly after 2005. With an improving business environment and recent GDP gains, companies are loosening their restraints for information technology investments."

The firm also forecast U.S. sales of PCs will reach $49 billion in 2005.