Forest Grove, OR -- Merix Corp., a leading manufacturer of advanced printed circuit boards, promoted Daniel T. Olson to CEO of Asian operations.

Olson, formerly Sr. VP of sales and marketing, has been with Merix since 1999, following senior sales management roles at MacDermid and Olin.

"Dan's leadership and strategic focus at Merix ... gives him the insight necessary for seamless support of our global customers and integration of our pending acquisition of the operations of Eastern Pacific Circuits Limited," said Mark Hollinger, chairman and CEO .

Thomas R. Ingham has been promoted to replace Olson. Ingham joined Merix earlier this year as director of quick-turn sales, and has over 25 years of experience in the industry.

Binghamton, NY -- Dover Technologies has appointed Jeroen Schmits as president of Universal Instruments Corp. Schmits replaces Ian deSouza, who moved on from the company earlier this month.

Schmits will take the helm on August 23. He has been president of Vitronics Soltec (another Dover Technologies group) since 1999. He previously worked at Universal’s Binghamton headquarters from 1997-1999 as vice president of the Surface Mount/Systems Division.

Gerhard Meese, executive VP of Dover, will relinquish his caretaker role at Universal when Schmits takes over.

Wetzlar, Germany  -- Leica Microsystems has opened a cleanroom at its Weilburg, Germany, facility. Replacing the previous cleanroom in Wetzlar, the new facility will also bring together the assembly lines previously maintained at two locations.

The 594 m² cleanroom will be used for system assembly and integration, and for customer acceptance tests. The sensitive entrance, packaging and system integration areas correspond to class 10,000; and the 328 m² assembly is class 100,000.

The company believes that combining the cleanrooms and centralizing assembly in Weilburg will enable a more flexible, efficient use of manpower, reduce throughput time, improve quality and lower contamination risks.

To further enhance the use of qualified personnel Leica has begun to systematically qualify its workforce. Over half of the employees in Weilburg are either engineers or technical specialists. Thirteen people have already transferred from Wetzlar, and more are expected to follow.

KOKOMO, IN– Foresite will offer a two-day workshop series in Boston, Minneapolis, San Jose and Seattle this fall. The Understanding Process Residues & their Effects on Product Performance and Achieving Reliable Lead Free Performance workshops will provide information for electronics manufacturers transitioning to Pb-free assembly who are concerned with product cleanliness and long term reliability.

Topics include: ways to achieve the lowest optimum Pb-free soldering temperatures, controlling oxidation and the difference between cleanliness and contamination.  Industry veteran (and Circuits Assembly columnist) Terry Munson will lead the classes.

The workshop dates are:

Boston – Sept. 21-22

Minneapolis – Sept. 27-28

San Jose – Nov. 2-3

Seattle – Nov .8-9

For more info and to register, visit www.residues.com.