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TEMPE, AZ, Nov. 1 -- Three-Five Systems reported net sales of $42.4 million and a net loss of $30.8 million for its September quarter. The company had a net loss of $30.9 million on sales of $41.8 million a year ago.

The results include a $23.1 million charge for the impairment of goodwill and a $1.8 million writeoff of
customer lists associated with the acquisitions of ETMA and AVT, respectively. TFAS also took a $1.6 million charge for excess inventory and transition issues relating to completion of the move of the display business from the company's factory in Manila to a factory in Beijing.
For the quarter, the cost of sales was $42.5 million, up from $41 million last year. Gross margin was a loss of 0.1, versus 1.4 last year.

Jack Saltich, president and chief executive, said in a statement, "We have been concentrating our efforts this year on streamlining our global manufacturing operations and correcting issues in our Redmond factory. Optimizing our global infrastructure has taken a significant effort. I believe we are starting to see success from these endeavors."

Separately, TFS named Leslie Honda regulatory affairs director, a new post. Honda was vice president of quality and regulatory for ClearMedical Inc., a medical devices reprocessor.

BANNOCKBURN, IL, Oct. 29 -- September bookings of printed circuit boards continued to outpace billings in North America, according to the latest 90-day moving average of manufacturers.

The book-to-bill ratio for all types of boards was 1.08, meaning for every $100 of shipments, $108 in orders were booked, said IPC, which tracks the data. The trade group does not disclose the participants or their revenues. The book-to-bill ratio was 1.04 in August.

The ratios for rigid and flex boards were 1.01 and 1.38, respectively. The ratio is calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

Overall September shipments rose 25.9% and bookings were up 18.1% year-on-year, IPC said. For the year, shipments are up 33.5%, bookings are up 35.2%. Sequentially, shipments were up 12.1%, bookings 16.6%.

"Both rigid and flex shipments are rebounding from the recession and are showing strong growth, but flex is growing at a faster rate than rigid," IPC said in a press release.

For the month rigid PCB shipments were up 12.2% but bookings fell 10.1%. Flexible circuit shipments were up 85.6% and bookings were 140.1% higher.

Year-to-date, rigid PCB shipments are up 23.3% and bookings are 16.8% higher, while flex shipments have grown 78.5% and bookings are up 106.5%.

The flexible circuit sales include some value-added services -- about 17%, says IPC.

SAN JOSE, Oct. 30 -- Tier 1 EMS firm Sanmina-SCI Corp. reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 21% to $3.3 billion as the company reversed last year's steep loss.

For the three months ended Oct. 2, the company posted earnings of $11.5 million, up from a loss of $85.7 million last year. The results topped consensus forecasts, thanks to strength in PCs and wireless infrastructure.

Excluding items, income rose to $41.8 million, from $14 million last year. Gross margins were 5.3%. In a research note, Deutsche Bank said, "We believe a mix shift toward PCs, continued pricing pressure and management mishaps in enclosures combined to drive the margin shortfall."

The company generated $160 million in cash flow from operations during the quarter. Inventory turns improved to 11.5 from 10.4 sequentially.

For its 2004 fiscal year, Sanmina-SCI posted a loss of $5.3 million, up from a loss of $137.2 million in 2003. Excluding one-time charges, the company reported income of $128.9 million, up from $28.3 million last year. Yearly revenue rose to $12.2 billion, from $10.4 billion.

Sanmina guided for first-quarter earnings per share of 9 to 11 cents on revenue of $3.3 billion to $3.5 billion. Last year Sanmina-SCI reported revenue of $3 billion.

WASHINGTON, D.C., Oct. 26 -- Manufacturers are feeling good about the near-term economic outlook, with 87% of large companies (1,000 employees or more) and 85% of smaller ones either "very" or "somewhat positive" about their business outlook.

So says the latest NAM/Fortune Manufacturing Index, a quarterly poll of 336 members of the National Association of Manufacturers.

NAM said the bullish outlook is based on continued strong sales expectations. "Fully three quarters of survey respondents indicated that they expect their sales to increase over the coming four quarters," said NAM president John Engler, in a statement.

Although the data show a modest sequential decline, when 90% of large and 87% of small companies were positive, the improvement is dramatic when compared to the period of Q3 2000 to Q2 2003, when less than two-thirds of NAM members were optimistic.

"This report confirms our belief that the economy is gaining strength and will continue to expand throughout this year and next," Engler said. "This is equal to the average of the prior two quarters and 10% above the response given a year ago."

Large firms expect sales to rise 6.1%, the strongest response since the fourth quarter of 1997, when the poll was begun. Smaller companies expect sales to grow by 4.4% over the coming year.

Fifty-five percent of respondents expect to increase capital spending over the coming year. Large and small firms expect to increase employment in the coming year.

NEENAH, WI., Oct. 27 -- Plexus Corp. today reported fourth-quarter revenue increased 26% over last year to $273.3 million but the EMS maker's net losses widened to $36.8 million, from $3.9 million last year.

The net loss included a $36.8 million valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, and $3.8 million in restructuring and impairment costs. The company cited higher-than-expected startup costs for its facility in Penang, Malaysia, and the closing of its Bothell, WA, plant.

The company guided for revenue growth of 15 to 18% in fiscal 2005.

For the year Plexus reported a net loss of $31.6 million on revenues of $1.04 billion. The company reported pro-forma net income of $13.5 million, excluding one-time items.

In 2003, Plexus had sales of $807.8 million and a net loss of $68 million.

"As we look to fiscal 2005 our primary objective remains to increase profitability," said president and CEO Dean Foate, in a press statement. "We expect to achieve this goal with improvements in capacity utilization and operating efficiencies through a combination of moderate revenue expansion and lean manufacturing and inventory management initiatives."

"For first fiscal quarter, we are initiating revenue guidance of $280 million to $290 million," Foate said.

Gordon Bitter, Chief Financial Officer, added, "Despite higher .

WASHINGTON - Discrepancies in the valuation of Chinese currencies remains a hot-button issue for U.S. manufacturers. Backed in spirit by several trade groups, the nation's largest workers union late last month filed an action against China, saying it violates World Trade Organization rules by pegging the value of its currency to the U.S. dollar.

The China currency issue has become a political football because of manufacturing's insistence on a substantial revaluation and the Bush Administration's stated reluctance to hold China's feet to the fire. Hoping to capitalize on the issue's high profile in the November elections, U.S. labor, textile, and steel groups on Sept. 9 filed a petition known as a Section 301 seeking a formal investigation into China's currency policy. Hours later, administration officials denied it.

On Sept. 30, one Republican and seven Democratic senators joined nearly 20 House Democrats in refiling the petition. While a spokesperson said the Administration would meet with Congressional members, there is no indication any punitive actions against China would be taken.

A coalition of trade groups known as the Fair Currency Alliance has spent the past year pushing for a steep revaluation of the Chinese yuan. The FCA wants 40%, a number arrived at that because, according to one FCA member there are data to justify it and it gave some room to negotiate.

However, disagreement in the ranks prompted the FCA to redraft the petition but the actual refiling was left to the AFL-CIO. The FCA, whose members include the National Association of Manufacturers and IPC, operates on unanimous consent, IPC spokesperson John Kania told Circuits Assembly, and there was "heated debate" among its members as to whether to proceed with the filing. The AFL-CIO, steel and textiles industries advocating filing and NAM was strongly against it, according to Kania. While not saying the IPC was against filing, Kania said the group didn't want to alienate the Bush Administration. (Kania, who doubles as IPC's liaison to the SMEMA Council, a group of assembly equipment makers, said the council supports the petition because it affects customers.)

China's currency policy has for years rankled many U.S. economists and trade groups. China has said on several occasions it plans to comply with WTO currency rules but has yet to move in that direction. Says Kania, "The view of the Administration is that the Chinese knows they have a problem. They need to slow down their economy. Inflation is rampant, but to control it they need to raise interest rates." And China needs 8% annual growth just to absorb the crush of new workers, Kania says.

Kania expects that a Kerry presidency would mean more action, at least. "He's going to have to do something for manufacturing. Labor really backed him."