Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

CHANDLER, AZ - Isola Group has acquired the assets and intellectual property of Gividi-Italy, a specialty manufacturer of fiber glass cloth for the PCB industry. The company, located in Monza Italy, has revenue of over $20 million and will report to Isola Europe. The acquisition is set to be completed during the first week of Apri. Terms were not disclosed.

"This acquisition strengthens our technology platform enabling us to expand the development of proprietary finishes used for our rapidly growing high performance products segment," said Ray Sharpe, president and CEO of Isola Group. "This investment demonstrates the commitment of our shareholders to not only the printed circuit industry, but to our new product development process as well."

The new company will be renamed to Isola Fabrics S.r.l. according to Augusto Meozzi, president Europe for Isola Group.

Carlsbad, CA -- Asymtek, a Nordson Company, received Intel Corp.'s 2004 Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement (SCQI) award. The company was given the award for its efforts in supplying Intel with automated fluid dispensing equipment. The company also won a SCQI award in 2003.

Asymtek and other SCQI award winners were honored at a celebration in Burlingame, CA on March 15. Intel also recognized award winners with an advertisement in the U.S., Europe and Asian editions of the Wall Street Journal.

"Asymtek continues to deliver outstanding results on key programs and initiatives for Intel," said Ron Rinfret, Director of Assembly Capital Equipment Development, Intel. "For the second year in a row Asymtek has been recognized as one of the 'best of the best' suppliers at Intel. We look forward to working with Asymtek in 2005 on additional challenging and strategic initiatives and are confident in their continued excellent support."

The SCQI awards are part of Intel's Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement process, which encourages key suppliers to strive for excellence and continuous improvement.

GREENVILLE, SC -- Kemet Corp. has named electronics veteran Per-Olof Loof chief executive, effective April 4. The company also named a new chairman.

Loof is managing partner of a New York management consulting firm. He was previously chief executive of Sensormatic Electronics, now part of Tyco. Loof also has had posts at Andersen Consulting, Digital Equipment Corporation, AT&T and NCR.

SAN JOSE -- Tessera Technologies today raised its financial guidance for the first quarter of 2005. The company also announced a licensing deal with Fujitsu.

Tessera now expects first quarter revenue in the range of $27.3 million to $27.5 million, as compared to previous guidance of $21.5 million to $22.0 million.

Ina press release, Tessera chairman and chief executive Bruce McWilliams said, "We are revising our guidance upwards based upon the impact of new licenses signed, as well as the overall good performance from our existing licensees in the past quarter, particularly related to devices used in computing and in personal communications."

Also, today, the company signed a technology licensing agreement with Fujitsu covering chip-scale packaging in ASICs, ASSPs and system-on-chips.

The technology includes chip-scale and multichip package types. No financial details were disclosed.

PHOENIX -- Suntron Corp. is using Applied Materials, claiming unfair business practices on the part of the maker of semiconductor gear. Suntron seeks over $20 million in damages.

In the suit, Suntron claims it spent millions of dollars on raw materials and other inventory-related costs as result of false promises of business from Applied Materials. The suit alleges a other unlawful acts and unfair business practices as well.

Suntron provided more than 7,000 different finished products to Applied Materials, Suntron said in a press statement. The lawsuit claims that Suntron has been left with more than $18 million worth of unused and obsolete inventory.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nortech Systems Inc. reported net sales of $20.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, a 30% increase over last year. Net income was $202,857, versus a net loss of $155,541.

For the fiscal year, net sales at the EMS provider were up 25% to $72.7 million. Net income for year was $587,329, beating guidance, versus $633,448.

"We are very pleased with these record-setting revenue levels for Nortech in the fourth quarter and for the entire year," said Mike Degen, president and CEO. "We will use this opportunity to leverage these strong results to expand our customer base and continue to invest in the Nortech brand and our infrastructure."

Throughout the year margin pressure was strong due to higher energy costs, increased commodity prices and international competition.

Nortech guided for fiscal 2005 revenues to increase 8 to 10%, to $78 million to $80 million. Earnings per diluted share for 2005 are expected to be 30 to 35 cents.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Ambitech International has sold its Silicon Valley PCB fabrication and assembly division to a group of investors. Terms were not disclosed.

Hunter Technology Corp. was acquired by Ambitech in March 2001, right at the end of the peak of the North American electronics market. Hunter has been in business for nearly 40 years.

Hunter specializes in printed circuit board fabrication and electronics assembly for high-mix products for medical, aerospace, communications and capital equipment.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - Enforcement of existing international trade agreements is the main thrust of an industry lobbying effort this spring.

IPC is coordinating a industrywide call on Congress and the Bush Administration to press China to live up to its trade agreements.

The annual event, called Capitol Hill Day, will take place May 18, in Washington, D.C.

The message is that until the administration enforces present WTO commitments, and U.S. trading partners abide by them, Congress should suspend consideration of any new trade agreements, IPC said in a press release.

"It's important to compel our trading partners to abide by the agreed upon rules of international trade, especially China, who continues to manipulate its currency for manufacturing and export advantages," says John Kania, IPC director of government relations. "We hope that by meeting with senators and representatives, we'll be able to influence national policy and legislation as it moves through Congress."

(Doug Bartlett, founding director of the U.S. Printed Circuit Alliance, discussed this topic in his keynote speech at PCB West 2005. Visit http://www.pcdandm.com/pcdmag/pdf/pcbwest05_keynote.pdf.)

For more information on the lobbying effort contact Kania at jkania@ipc.org.

DALLAS - Pintail Technologies, a provider of semiconductor test software, has
secured $7 million in venture capital funding, bringing the company's
total funding to date to $11.5 million. Austin Ventures, Agilent Ventures, Duchossois Technology Partners, IVF Ventures and STARTech Early Ventures were among the investors, Pintail said.

The new funding will be used to expand the company's worldwide sales and
support teams and to finance the development of additional test performance
improvement solutions.

Pintail's software is for mixed-signal test time acceleration, reducing field defects and reviewing test operations.

Milpitas, CA, March 18 - FlexICs, an ultra-low-temperature poly silicon flexible circuit manufacturing facility, will host a WebCast equipment auction next Tuesday.

Highlights of the 500-lot auction include: Cascade Microtech probe system, (2) CHA SSB-600 sputter systems, Karl Suss MA150 mask aligner, Sopra ES4-G ellipsometer, Tegal 901e etcher, Dektak 3ST profiler, Lamda Physik 400/4038 laser system, custom-designed cluster tool with a $2.4 million original acquisition cost, plus hundreds of additional technology items.

Oyster Bay, NY - March 18 - RFID supply chain mandates launched by a few big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are now well documented and understood. But many other retailers are finding problems and frustration when they try to apply RFID in the same way.

Why? According to ABI Research analyst Sara Shah, "There's no cookie-cutter approach to RFID." In a new study, the research firm finds a disconnection: RFID manufacturers -- many of them relatively new companies -- don't understand retail; and many retailers don't understand how RFID can benefit them. This leaves them frustrated and slows down market adoption.

"Wal-Mart's approach is creative," said Shah. "It's very worthwhile for them, which is why they're pushing forward on schedule. Other retailers follow, thinking that Wal-Mart's business case will apply just as well to them. But it may not work, because every business and every supply chain is different."

So, many retailers turn to their usual consulting companies -- often one of the largest half-dozen. But big consultants are rarely early adopters of new technologies, says ABI; they're often content to let ideas mature before getting involved.

Beyond supply chain management, nobody knows how many ways RFID can be used; known applications include security & "backdoor theft" prevention, contactless payments, advertising and promotions. Shah advises retailers to consider smaller consulting firms, where they'll find people who can find new ways to use RFID. Unfortunately, she adds, many of those small creative integrators lack the resources to execute system-wide rollouts for large clients.

For their part, RFID vendors need to educate themselves about retailing, and to develop solutions to retailers' problems, not just one-size-fits-all products.

AUSTIN, TX -- Low-cost assembly of RFID chips and antennas may be the most critical roadblock to reaching a five-cent RFID tag. With this in mind, TechSearch International has created a workshop to address assembly issues associated with RFID tag manufacturing.

Low-Cost RFID IC Packaging and Assembly: Roadblock on the Highway to a 5-cent RFID Tag, will be held March 29-30 in Austin, TX. The workshop will provide a forum for experts on all aspects of RFID IC packaging and assembly to present their work.

Rick Koskella, Sun Microsystem, will give the opening presentation -- RFID Scorecard: Accomplishments and Issues -- based on the experiences from Sun's RFID test center in Texas. Dr. Gitanjali Swamy will present a cost model for RFID. Presentations from semiconductor makers and inlay manufacturers include speakers from Philips, Texas Instruments, Celis Semiconductor, Alien Technology, Symbol Technologies and KSW Microtech.

Equipment makers, including Muhlbauer and Toray Engineering, will share their experiences in the RFID tag assembly area. A presentation on printed electronics will be given by Dr. Dan Gamota, Motorola. Presentations will also highlight RFID activities in Japan and China. Dr. Frank Bachner of TechSearch will moderate a panel discussing the key challenges to lowering RFID inlay and tag assembly cost.