Oulunsalo, Finland -- Juha Hulkko has been appointed chief executive of Elektrobit Group, a Finland-based specialist in the design, life-cycle testing and production automation of electronics products.

A founder of Elektrobit Group and a major shareholder, Hulkko has acted as Chairman since 2002.

Former CEO Juha Sipilä will take over the role of Chairman.

The executive board has been further restructured, with Jukka Harju appointed as COO. He will continue his duties in mergers and acquisitions, and oversee the executive vice presidents responsible for Strategic Business Units and Logistics and Information Management. Johann Haas has been appointed executive VP, Automotive Unit. All other support functions except Human Resources will be directed by CFO Seppo Laine.

AUSTIN, TX -- A May 1 fire at ASE's Chung-Li, Taiwan facility that destroyed part of the company's assembly and test capacity and decimated its flip-chip substrate production line will heap further pressure on an already tenuous supply of laminate substrates for semiconductor packaging.

Increased demand for laminate substrates this year, coupled with the ASE fire, is expected to push prices higher for wirebond PBGA and flip-chip substrates, says a new report from research firm TechSearch International. Unless capacity is expanded over existing plans, the situation could be similar for 2006, TechSearch said in a press release.
 

Wunstorf, Germany -- phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services reports that it has increased sales by 35% over fiscal 2003. According to a press release, the company has also given a positive impact on the regional employment quota, with a staff of over 70 employees that includes a growing number of research and development engineers.

phoenix|x-ray is a manufacturer of microfocus and nanofocus x-ray systems, x-ray tubes and computed tomography systems.

“We see this an investment into the future,” says Helmut Appelt, general manager. “Our goal is to keep our position of the market leader in our segment which means we always need to be ahead our competitors when it comes to developing new products.”

The company cites as an example the launch of the product series v|tome|x in 2002. The x-ray system combines 3-D computed tomography and 2-D inspection with submicron resolution. The demand for computed tomography has increased during the last couple of years, leading to an interesting market potential. Accordingly, phoenix|x-ray set-up a new business department for CT.

Despite the growth of the 3-D inspection business, phoenix|x-ray still sees new applications for 2-D inspection. The x|argos introduced in mid April is a high kV x-ray system for large samples up to 100 kg. The company believes the market potential for this system is large due to new materials and production techniques (especially in the automotive industry) that require high-resolution x-ray inspection.