OTTAWA and TOKYO, Dec. 15 -- Webplan Corp. today announced that Hewlett Packard Japan will resell the firm's software for rapid response manufacturing.

WebPlan's tool, called RapidResponse Response Management, is said to automate and expedite the decision-making process that occurs between planning and execution. It permits rapid viewing of changes in supply and demand, proposes action alternatives and ranks and scores "what-if" scenarios.

"Large manufacturers require a strategic response management solution as a part of their supply chain management strategy,' said Hiroshi Oowaki, director, manufacturing industry practice, consulting and integration of Hewlett Packard Japan. "RapidResponse addresses this critical business need and is an important part of HP Japan's portfolio of offerings to help manufacturers profitably attract and retain customers."

SAN JOSE, Dec. 16 -- The number of PCs in use worldwide will reach almost 1.3 billion by the end of the decade, up from about 575 million today. In a new study, Forrester Research claims markets in Europe, the U.S. and Asia have reached maturity and that the bulk of the growth will come from emerging regions like China, Russia and India.

According to Forrester, emerging markets will account for 566 million new PCs in use by the end of 2010. The mature regions' consumption: 150 million new PCs in use. (Contrary to other news reports, the study reflects new PCs in use, not sales of PCs overall -- which would be a much higher number.)

Moreover, Western PC vendors won't dominate in those markets in the long term, Forrester says. The firm forecasts PC makers like Lenovo Group in China, which just announced the purchase of IBM's PC division, and Aquarius in Russia will gain share because they are better positioned to tailor the PC form factor, price points and applications to their local markets.

For its report Forrester studied 16 emerging markets representing 62% of the world's population.

China will gain the most new PC users, 178 million, while India will gain 80 million and Indonesia 40 million, the study says. According to Forrester, India's PC adoption -- currently one of the lowest rates in the world -- will grow 37% annually through 2010. Indonesia's growth rate will be 40% per year.

Of the 16 emerging markets, Mexico will have the deepest PC penetration as a percentage of population: 46 PCs per every 100 people.

LONDON, Dec. 16 -- The U.K. government has made available a series of publications on the WEEE and RoHS Directives, including best practice case studies.

The guidance is available for free at www.envirowise.gov.uk/electronics.

Among the suggestions:

• Talk to, or join, a recycling industry consortium.
• Talk to a recycler about the requirements and costs of recycling your own product, with a view to re-design.
• Find out what happens at the end-of-life for your product.
• Establish a dialogue with distributors and retailers to establish if your own take-back scheme is possible, or what the best options are for your business.
• Look at current contracts, both for equipment used and sold, to identify any possible transferral of responsibility.
• Evaluate customer opinions about who is responsible for WEEE and see if it is possible to negotiate
• Evaluate B2B takeback obligations if selling equipment to businesses that are likely to have old stock which will need to be collected and recycled.
• Re-evaluate your business model.
• Identify any market opportunities, such as recycling, logistics.
• Consider a move from a selling to a renting business model.
• Evaluate design and re-design opportunities.

For additional information:

• U.K.'s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), RoHS guidelines: http://www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/
• KPMG report on WEEE: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/kpmgreport.pdf
• DTI commissioned assessment on WEEE strategies in other countries: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/aeatreport.pdf
• DTI RoHS compliance reports: ROHS Compliance Executive Summary.pdf: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/; ROHS Compliance Full Report.pdf: www.dti.gov.uk/sustainability/weee/
• Centre for Sustainable Design: www.cfsd.org.uk
• Sustainable Design Network: www.sustainabledesignnet.org.uk 
• EC's Integrated Product Policy:  www.europa.eu.int/comm/environment/ipp/home.htm 
• United Nations UNIDO training kit on Cleaner Production: www.unido.org/doc/9753  
• Lifecycle analysis tools: www.pre.nl
• Waste Resource and Action Programme: www.wrap.org.uk
• Intellect: www.intellectuk.org/campaigns/environment/default.asp
• Unep sustainable consumption: www.uneptie.org/pc/sustain
•  Environment Agency life cycle analysis tool: www.environment-agency.gov.uk
• Sustainable Business: www.sustainablebusiness.com
• Design Council: www.design-council.org.uk

HOUSTON, Dec. 15, 2004 — Microtek Inc. (microtek.co.jp/english/) has chosen BP Microsystems' (bpmicro.com) equipment for a new programming services facility in Isehara, Kanagawa, Japan.

The 130-employee company plans and designs parts that are then commissioned for manufacture in separate facilities. It prefers automated programming systems because of reduced bent leads during handling and better ESD isolation. Additionally, it offers visual inspection services and component marking services.

Microtek's new facility, the Atsugi Programming Center, uses programmers, vision inspection machines and marking machines. The company anticipates programming over six million devices this year.