DORNSTADT, GERMANY – The 8th ASYS Group Technology Days brought some 400 customers and partner companies together to observe a full working SMT line and listen to several live electronics assembly seminars.

AYLESBURY, UK – Nordson Dage has developed a new test method for the evaluation of die strength by means of cantilever bending, where three-point bending is not suitable for die with a thickness of fewer than 50µm.

EARTH CITY, MO -- Raven Industries will close its facility here by next fall and lay off 58 workers.

FRANKLIN, MA – Pat O’Brien will take over as vice president and general manager of Speedline Technologies on Jan. 1. O’Brien is currently vice president and general manager of ITW Thermal Processing.

SAN JOSE — Worldwide semiconductor manufacturing equipment orders rose 4% year-over-year to $9.32 billion in the third quarter, SEMI said.

FRAMINGHAM, MA -- Looming software advacements underpin IDC's annual list of worldwide manufacturing predictions, released late last week.

SAN DIEGO – Robbie Bach, former president of entertainment and devices at Microsoft, will present the opening keynote at IPC Apex Expo here Feb. 24 about the history of the Xbox.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ -- Total production value of electronic systems is projected to increase 5% in 2014 to $1.49 trillion and climb to about $1.82 trillion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate of 5.2% since 2013, according to a new report.

CHENGDU, CHINA – Intel said it would invest $1.6 billion to upgrade its chipset manufacturing factory here.

ANAHEIM, CA -- Lark Engineering has expanded its manufacturing capacity for wire, cable and harness assemblies.

BANGKADI, MUANG, PATHUTHAMI, THAILAND -- SVI Public Co. today said preproduction operations have commenced at its Chaengwattana EMS site and full production will start by month's end.

WASHINGTON – Worldwide sales of semiconductors reached $29.7 billion in October, up 9.6% year-over-year, and up 1.5% sequentially, says the Semiconductor Industry Association.