KOKOMO, IN, March 24 -- Foresite will offer a pair of two-day workshops on Understanding Process Residues & their Effects on Product Performance and Achieving Reliable Lead-Free Performance & Conducting Failure Analysis. Held in Atlanta and Dallas, the series will provide information for electronics manufacturers who are transitioning to lead-free assembly and are concerned with product cleanliness and long-term reliability.  
 
The Atlanta workshop will be held on April 27-28; the Dallas workshop takes place May 3-4. Topics include: process residues and their effect on product performance, successfully implementing a lead-free process and conducting an effective failure analysis.
 
Terry Munson, a Circuits Assembly columnist, will lead the workshop. Terry has over 16 years of experience with how cleanliness is affecting product reliability for electronic hardware.
 
For more info and to register, visit www.residues.com or call (765) 457-8095.

MILPITAS, CA -- Solectron Corp., a provider of electronics manufacturing services, today reported second-quarter sales of $2.76 billion, down 4.5% from last year and up 3.6% sequentially.

The GAAP loss from continuing operations narrowed to $5 million, from $90 million in the second quarter of last year.

The company had non-GAAP net income from continuing operations of $40 million, excluding $45 million of charges. The company took a one-time charge of $40 million for the pending sale of one of its Japanese facilities, a $3 million restructuring charge and a $2 million charge related to its convertible note exchange offer.

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LISLE, IL -- David D. Johnson today was named CFO of Molex, a maker of connectors and other circuit interconnects, effective May 13. Johnson was VP and CFP at Sypris Solutions,  a designer and manufacturer of electronics systems for the military.

He had been CFO of Sypris since March 1998.

Sypris named vice president and treasurer Anthony C. Allen acting CFO. The process for identifying a permanent replacement has been initiated.

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SARATOGA, CA - The decline in semiconductors that began in the second half of 2004 possibly came to a halt in January, according to a leading research firm. "Although it seems that the decline stalled in January, we discourage extrapolating this incident into the future as one month does not make a trend," warned Rosa Luis, director of marketing and sales at Advanced Forecasting. 

AFI said January's data shows a clear stagnation in IC revenues, which were flat month-on-month; units, which has begun to slow, indicating a bottom is near; and average selling price, which increased slightly in January after a slight decline in December. Historical data shows this is a rare occurrence in that ASPs do not tend to increase once they have begun a decline, AFI said.

"We remain optimistic that the current decline will end during the first half of 2005," said Luis. "We stand by our original forecast of a near zero growth rate for the full year."