METHUEN, MA – Rain drizzling on their heads, a small army of state and local politicians were on hand as EMS firm Suntron today officially opened its manufacturing plant here north of Boston.

DULUTH, GA – Viscom AG says it has experienced substantial recovery during the first half compared to the same period last year, with an 88% upsurge in AOI systems orders during the second quarter.

SMYRNA, GA – Attendance soared at the PCB West trade show held last week, with the number of visitors rising 25.7% from last year.

DEERFIELD BEACH, FL – Inovaxe debuted its Logistics Services Division to help small to mid-sized companies deal with the complexity of using offshore manufacturers.

The firm offers these logistics services: initial inspection of potential vendors: size of facility, number of buildings with sq. footage, power cycling to facility, ability to generate power for factory equipment, equipment list, type of equipment, general condition of equipment, maintenance schedules, tool handling process, number of employees, minimum age of employees, training programs for employees, etc.; first article inspection; production in-process inspection; pre-shipment inspection; vendor sourcing, and parts ordering. 

LEEDS, UK -- A group of UK researchers are showing the potential of a new synthetic material to replace Pb-based ceramics in electronics devices.

SAN JOSE -- The 90-day moving average global semiconductor sales were $25.7 billion in August, up 1.8% sequentially.

WASHINGTON – US factory orders fell 0.5% during August, the third drop in the past four months, the Commerce Department said today. Outside of transportation, however, orders increased 0.9% – the first increase since March.

BANNOCKBURN, IL — IPC last week presented scores of awards to individuals who made significant contributions to standards and programs development.

SAN DIEGO – Cal-Comp, the world’s sixth largest EMS company, has acquired Spectragraphics, the parent company of a pair of US-based EMS companies, for an undisclosed price. The deal is expected to close in the next 60 days.

TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September for the 14th consecutive month, says the Institute for Supply Management. However, the PMI fell 1.9 percentage points to 54.4%.

A reading above 50% indicates the manufacturing economy is generally expanding. However, the ISM went so far to point out that despite the positive PMI, many of the trend lines appear weaker. The PMI has fallen 11.5 percentage points from its January peak of 65.9%.

New orders dropped 2 points to 51.1%, while production fell 3.4 points to 56.5%. Inventories grew to 55.6%, up 4.2 percentage points. Customer inventories dropped 1 point to 42.5%. Backlogs fell 5 points to 46.5%.

The overall economy grew for the 17th consecutive month, says ISM.

“While the headline number shows relative strength this month, as the PMI reading of 54.4% is still quite positive, the overall picture is less encouraging,” said ISM spokesman Norbert J. Ore. “The growth of new orders continued to slow, as the index is down significantly from its cyclical high. Production is currently growing at a faster rate than new orders, but it typically lags and would be expected to weaken further in the fourth quarter. Manufacturing has enjoyed a stronger recovery than other sectors of the economy, but it appears that weaker growth is the expectation for the fourth quarter. Both the inventories and backlog of orders indexes are sending strong negative signals of weakening performance in the sector.”

LOS ALTOS, CA – Worldwide electronics equipment production will grow 13.3% this year, rebounding nicely following last year’s 9.9% drop.

EL SEGUNDO, CA -- Saying consumer demand is slowing and inventories are rising, research firm iSuppli lowered its 2010 semiconductor revenue forecast to 32%, down from its previous outlook of 35.1%.