Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

ELK GROVE VILLAGE, IL, Dec. 7 -- SigmaTron International Inc. today reported net revenues increased to $27.9 million for the quarter ended Oct. 31. Net income was $1.3 million, down from $1.8 million a year ago.

SigmaTron had sales of $26.5 million in the year ago quarter.

First-half sales rose $1.5 million, to $52.9 million. Net income fell $800,000, to $2.3 million.

Sales were higher for telecommunications and appliances, the firm said.

Gary R. Fairhead, president and chief executive, said, "Pricing pressures, product life cycle issues and component pricing impacted our results."

The company operates plants in Elk Grove Village (Chicago); Las Vegas; Fremont, CA (SMT Unlimited); Acuna, Mexico; and Suzhou, China. The latter's sales rose in the quarter now employs 135 workers.

GRAND RAPIDS, MI, Dec. 7 -- MiQuest, a maker of electronics assemblies, is planning to expand its factory here to meet higher demand, according to a local news report.

According to the report, city officials are reviewing zoning ordinances in order to pave the way for the firm's expansion.

MiQuest currently employs 50 and could add 20 to 25 more if the city approves the zoning request, the report said.

The company hopes to begin construction "as soon as possible" and production will start early next year, MiQuest project manager Richard Tournier reportedly said.

NEW YORK -- China's Lenovo Group will buy IBM's PC business for $1.75 billion in cash and stock, according to several news reports and company sources.

With the acquisition, Lenovo would become the third-largest PC company in the world, with sales of $12 billion, said Lenovo chairman Liu Chuanzhihe.

IBM is currently the third largest maker of PCs, behind Dell (16.4%) and HP(13.9%). The merged company will have an 8% share of the global PC market.

Leveno will acquire a 81.1% stake with IBM holding 18.9%.

Stephen M. Ward, Jr., currently IBM senior vice president and general manager of IBM's Personal Systems Group, will serve as the chief executive of Lenovo when the deal closes. Yuanqing Yang, currently vice chairman, president and chief executive of Lenovo, will become chairman of Lenovo.

Lenovo, China's biggest computer maker, claiming a 27% share, is traded publicly on the Hong Kong exchange.

In a Dec. 8 research note, Deutsche Bank analyst Chris Whitmore said anticipated supplier consolidation by Lenovo could hurt Sanmina-SCI. DB estimates Sanmina-SCI generates about 20% of its revenue from building PC boards for IBM.

"We believe IBM-Lenovo will look to consolidate its supply base following the completion of the acquisition, creating downward pressure on margins [and] pricing across the PC supply chain," Whitmore wrote. He speculated that Sanmina-SCI would either see less volume and lower margins.

Sanmina-SCI could lose $50 million in annual operating profits if Lenovo were to end IBM's existing PC board supply deal.

Lenovo was founded in 1984 and was formerly known as Legend. It has a 2% share of the PC market, according to Gartner.

TEMPE, AZ, Dec. 6 — Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in November for the 18th consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 37th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives.

A report was issued today by the Institute for Supply Management (www.ism.ws) found the closely watched PMI index at 57.8% in November, up one point from October. The new orders index rose 3.2 points to 61.5%. The figures reversed a three-month slide.

"The manufacturing sector appears poised to end the year on a strong note as the new orders index made its way back above the 60% mark, and the employment index picked up significant momentum," said chairman Norbert Ore. "There is still significant upward pressure on prices as commodity price increases are common."

A PMI over 50 is considered a sign of an expansion.

Other findings: There is significant upward pressure on prices. Customer inventories are too low. Order backlogs fell in November. New export orders and imports continued to grow.

Comments from respondents this month focused on inflationary concerns. While many manufacturers are enjoying strong sales, there is concern that commodity prices are eroding profits. Energy leads the list of inflationary drivers as many commodities are derived from oil and gas feedstocks.

Production fell 1.9 points to 57% percent in November. Employment is at 57.6%, up 2.8 points.

The inventories index registered 50.7 percent in November, up from the 48.2 percent reported in October. ISM's customers' inventories index is at 43.5 percent. The prices index fell 4.5 points to 74%.

The order backlog index fell 1.5 points to 47.5%. The new export orders index was 54.7%, down 1.9 points. Imports decreased 0.1 point to 58.4% in November.

"It appears the manufacturing sector is definitely sustaining its momentum as this month's PMI strengthened slightly while continuing to indicate a gradual downward trend," said Ore. "Prices are a big issue, but the strength in new orders offsets some of those concerns as companies work to benefit from the volume."

In November, 15 industries reported growth including Industrial and Commercial Equipment and Computers, and Electronic Components and Equipment.

DEK has signed an exclusive OEM partner agreement with Stork Veco, a European manufacturer of electroform stencils. The companies will develop electroformed stencils for the SMT industry and semiconductor market, including a soon-to-be released VectorGuard electroformed stencil with interchangeable foils.

Electroformed stencils are effective in applications with high numbers of apertures, and demand better printing characteristics than can be achieved using laser-cut or chemically etched stencils.

Under the agreement, DEK will take full ownership for front-end orders, enquiries and on-site reports. Stork will then manufacture the stencil, before delivering it to DEK for final assembly and delivery to the end customer. Stork will no longer sell directly to end customers.

MUNICH, Dec. 1 -- Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems, which has reportedly installed more placement machines than any other company, today disclosed its latest machine platform to a group of editors, including Circuits Assembly.

The Siplace X-series comes in two, three and four gantry versions and features an innovative head with 20 nozzles. Further, it reaches placement speeds of up to 20,000 components per hour, Siemens says. Designed for modularity and flexibility, it marks the equipment giant's first new platform in years.

The new machine is currently in beta testing at BMK Electronics, a contract assembler in Augsburg, and at Fujitsu Siemens. Siemens will officially roll out Siplace X in February, at Apex.

The new platform also comes with next-generation feeder modules and a new vision system.

At 2.4 by 2.5 meters, the platform footprint is the same as Siemens' previous models.

During the conference, Tilo Brandis, head of Siemens Electronic Assembly Systems, said the division grew 40% during its recently completed fiscal year 2003 -- twice the industry average. The company is on pace to ship 1286 placement machines in 2004, up more than 300 from 2003.

WEST HAVEN, CT, Dec. 3, 2004 - Enthone Inc., the specialty chemicals division of Cookson Electronics, has named Huub van Dun president, effective January 1. He will report directly to Steven Corbett, Cookson's president and CEO, and previous head of Enthone.

van Dun will have profit and loss responsibility for the worldwide Enthone business, and will be responsible for driving market penetration for all product groups, while focusing on research and development of new products and processes.

He has been with the company since 1967 and was previously VP of Enthone Europe.

IRVINE, CA, Dec. 3, 2004 --A Santa Ana Federal Court jury unanimously awarded $3 million to Systems Division Inc., in its patent infringement lawsuit against Teknek Electronics Ltd. and Teknek LLC. The plaintiff company said the seven-member jury found that the defendants had willfully infringed Systems Division's U.S. patents '073, '358, and '393 for computer circuit-board cleaning.

A press release issue by SDI states that the final Court order decreed that Systems Division is awarded $771,555.25 in prejudgement interest against Teknek, in addition to $3,000,000 previously awarded to the plaintiff. In previous orders, the court ordered that the defendants and their agents are enjoined from importing, exporting, advertising, marketing and selling in the U.S. "any CM6, CM5 mk2, or any machine substantially identical to a CM6 or CM5 mk2 machine."

Teknek Electronics Ltd. is a limited liability partnership based in Scotland, Teknek LLC is a limited liability corporation based in Illinois. In May of 1999, according to SDI, it noted that Teknek was infringing on its patents and requested that Teknek immediately cease and desist selling those of its products that infringed SDI's patents. According to SDI, Teknek continued to manufacture and sell knock-offs of the plaintiff's patented sheet cleaning machines and paper rollers around the world.

Austin, TX, Dec. 3 -- A new study by TechSearch International projects a compound growth rate of over 28% in the flip chip and wafer level packaging market between 2004 and 2009. With a forecasted demand of 22 million 8-in. equivalent wafers (FC and WLP) in 2007, TechSearch projects a need for capacity expansion to meet the requirements.

According to the study, the drivers for flip chip continue to be performance, on-chip power distribution, pad limited designs and form factor requirements. High-performance logic suppliers such as ASIC, FPGA, DSPs, chipset, graphics and microprocessor makers are expanding their use of flip chip in package (FCIP). Applications such as watch modules and automotive electronics are included as flip chip on board (FCOB) packaging solutions. An increasing number of devices, from diodes to DRAMs, are packaged at the wafer level.

WLPs are also growing in volume for a variety of low lead count (¾100 I/O) applications-including analog devices such as power amplifiers, battery management devices, controllers, memory and integrated passives. Most of these devices are relatively small in size, and thousands can be fabricated on a single wafer. While the shift to flip chip and WLP did not materalize in high volume for DDR2 DRAM, performance requirements will necessitate a shift in interconnect methods from wire bond to bumps (flip chip or wafer-level package) for DDR3. Gold bump demand continues to be dominated by LCD driver ICs, but an increasing number of gold stud bumped devices are also shipping.

The expansion of flip chip technology continues to spark innovation and new developments. New bumping technologies continue to be introduced for the flip chip market. The assembly of bumped silicon fabricated with low-k dielectric materials resulted in a host of issues requiring changes to the materials and the assembly process.

Legislation in Europe banning lead and other materials deemed harmful to the environment by 2006 currently provides an exemption for high-lead flip chip bumps, however a number of companies are moving to adopt lead-free bump compositions. Demand for 300 mm bumping is expected to expand with increased production of devices on 300 mm wafers. Solder bumping prices continue to decline and are no longer a factor in the adoption of flip chip. However, high substrate prices continue to be a barrier to widespread migration from wirebond to flip chip attachment.

CHANDLER, AZ, Dec. 2, 2004 - Isola Group has completed a major portion of its European restructuring plan, including the relocation of full-scale production from the UK to its German and Italian operations. The Cumbernauld, UK, operation will maintain partial production capabilities to support quick turns and special products.

The company also relocated a sizeable portion of the basic research and development center to Chandler, AZ, and built a new customer service facility in Duren.

President and CEO Raymond Sharpe said Europe's operating performance continues to strengthen as a result of commitments to Lean and Six Sigma manufacturing techniques. "We have appointed both regional and individual site leaders to drive the program. During December, these European leaders will join a global Isola operations team in Japan for an intensive nine-day boot camp focused on achieving world class performance."

The group also reported that sales increased by 19% over last year for the three-month period ending Sept. 30.

Sales of high performance products grew significantly from the prior year and are expected to grow 50% annually over the next two years.

Sharpe commented, "Our cash flow from operations has improved substantially since the company was acquired by TPG and Redfern Partners in June. This has enabled us to improve our balance sheet and fund restructuring operations and strategic investments we believe will return value to our shareholders and customers."

Isola has plans to continue expanding in the rapidly growing Asia market and in high performance niche markets.

SINGAPORE, Dec. 2, 2004 - Speedline Technologies Inc. has launched a Chinese language version of their website (speedlinetech.com) as part of their expanding service to distributors, customers and manufacturers throughout Asia.

The new website provides information regarding products, services and software, along with technical processes and applications information and news. It also provides opportunities for partners and customers to conduct business online. Asia-specific customer support and contact information are highlighted.

To view the Chinese language version, visit the site and click on the Chinese flag.

Norcross, GA, Dec. 1, 2004 ¾ The Electronics Assembly Systems division of Siemens Logistics and Assembly Systems Inc. is providing a Lean Manufacturing course for the Americas. The first two-day course is scheduled for Jan. 26-27, 2005, in partnership with the Center for Electronics Manufacturing & Assembly (CEMA) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).

The course will take place at RIT's Rochester, NY, CEMA facility. The following Lean tools will be discussed: Value Stream Mapping (VSM); 5-S; Visual Controls; Standard Work; Takt; Kanban, Pull Systems and Supermarkets; Line and Cell Design; Setup Reduction, Total Productive Maintenance (TPM); Kaizen Event Training; Impact and Culture Change; and Assessment Tools.

The course is being offered as a result of the Siemens EA Consortium for the Advancement of Electronics Manufacturing Education (CAEME).