News
Atlanta – The 10th annual Atlanta SMTA Expo will occur on April 20, at the Gwinnett Civic Center in Duluth, GA. In addition to the exhibition and technology showcase, Phil Zarrow and Mike Buetow will each present a keynote presentation.
Zarrow is president and co-founder of ITM Consulting, and a Circuits Assembly columnist. He will speak from 8:30-9:30 a.m. on “Implementing Lead-Free: The Other 90%.” He will examine what Pb-free means to the electronic assembler at the process and logistics level. The impact upon printing, placement, reflow and inspection will be examined as well as the adaptations necessary by purchasing, quality assurance and product development groups.
Mike Buetow, Editor-in-Chief of Circuits Assembly, will follow with a presentation entitled, “Who Owns the Supply Chain?” According to Buetow, there is a is a war on in the supply chain as each segment fights for its share of the OEM pie. As EMS and distributors add value-added services, their suppliers cannot help but be impacted. Environmental legislation is affecting how everyone (designers, fabricators, assemblers) does business. The presentation will provide a look at how the supply chain is shaping up and what it might look like in the future.
For information on exhibiting or attending, visit: smta.org/education/vendor_days/vendor_days.cfm#ga
Zarrow is president and co-founder of ITM Consulting, and a Circuits Assembly columnist. He will speak from 8:30-9:30 a.m. on “Implementing Lead-Free: The Other 90%.” He will examine what Pb-free means to the electronic assembler at the process and logistics level. The impact upon printing, placement, reflow and inspection will be examined as well as the adaptations necessary by purchasing, quality assurance and product development groups.
Mike Buetow, Editor-in-Chief of Circuits Assembly, will follow with a presentation entitled, “Who Owns the Supply Chain?” According to Buetow, there is a is a war on in the supply chain as each segment fights for its share of the OEM pie. As EMS and distributors add value-added services, their suppliers cannot help but be impacted. Environmental legislation is affecting how everyone (designers, fabricators, assemblers) does business. The presentation will provide a look at how the supply chain is shaping up and what it might look like in the future.
For information on exhibiting or attending, visit: smta.org/education/vendor_days/vendor_days.cfm#ga
SARATOGA, CA – State of the art wafer fabrication capacity reached a record high of 99% in the fourth quarter of 2005, prompting speculation over a potential recession.
According to research firm Advanced Forecasting Inc., the fourth-quarter utilization level is “reminiscent” of cycles in 1995 and 2000 in which utilization rates of the SoA technology (defined as line widths smaller than 0.12 microns) topped 97%, only to be followed by a recession.
This time it’s different, the semiconductor forecasting house says.SCOTTSDALE, AZ-- Aegis Assessments has ordered a $250,000 initial production run of the SafetyNet RadioBridge from contract manufacturer CirTran Corp. Aegis is a wireless technology company that provides products that improve emergency communications for homeland security, public safety and commercial applications,
CirTran was previously awarded a contract by Aegis to redesign the product, which interconnects incompatible radios.The project was performed at CirTran's ISO 9001:2000-certified manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City.
ANGLETON, TX-- Benchmark Electronics on Wednesday announced that its board has declared a 3-for-2 stock split in the form of a stock dividend.
Shareholders of record at the close of business March 27 will receive one additional share for every two shares owned, to be distributed on or about April 3.
Shareholders of record at the close of business March 27 will receive one additional share for every two shares owned, to be distributed on or about April 3.
After the stock split, it will have approx. 63,878,218 shares outstanding.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN – The SMTA is offering a number of educational events this spring, including an RoHS Due Diligence workshop on April 18 and June 13, and the Medical Electronics Symposium on May 15-17.
The Building Your Due Diligence Defense Workshop aims to help participants reduce both financial risk and operational costs. This workshop will be held on April 18 at the Radisson Hotel Milwaukee Airport, and will be repeated on June 13 at the DoubleTree Hotel Colorado Springs.
Workshop Topics
· Due-diligence legal definitions and case-law interpretations
· Industry best practices
· Critical steps when implementing a due diligence process
· What to include on your due diligence checklist
· Revising contracts to reduce liability
· Cost-effective ways to collect, manage and report substance-level data
· Screening techniques for supplier and product verification
· Lab testing strategies, methods and ways of reducing cost
· Fastest way to populating your materials database
· Tips for balancing financial risk and operational costs
For details, visit smta.org/education/academy/academy.cfm#RoHS.
The third annual SMTA Medical Electronics Symposium will be held on May 15-17 at the Sheraton Hotel Minneapolis South in Bloomington, MN.
This symposium will focus on the medical device market’s current and future outlooks, application cleanliness, business challenges, sensors/MEMS, material and component reliability, product technology, product assembly, Pb Free learned lessons, process and cost improvement projects.
A half-day course on Reliability Assurance in Medical Electronics will be conducted by Graig Hillman, DfR Solutions and Daniel Baldwin, Engent Inc.
A tabletop exhibit will feature industry suppliers.
For more info.: smta.org/education/symposia/symposia.cfm#medical
The Building Your Due Diligence Defense Workshop aims to help participants reduce both financial risk and operational costs. This workshop will be held on April 18 at the Radisson Hotel Milwaukee Airport, and will be repeated on June 13 at the DoubleTree Hotel Colorado Springs.
Workshop Topics
· Due-diligence legal definitions and case-law interpretations
· Industry best practices
· Critical steps when implementing a due diligence process
· What to include on your due diligence checklist
· Revising contracts to reduce liability
· Cost-effective ways to collect, manage and report substance-level data
· Screening techniques for supplier and product verification
· Lab testing strategies, methods and ways of reducing cost
· Fastest way to populating your materials database
· Tips for balancing financial risk and operational costs
For details, visit smta.org/education/academy/academy.cfm#RoHS.
The third annual SMTA Medical Electronics Symposium will be held on May 15-17 at the Sheraton Hotel Minneapolis South in Bloomington, MN.
This symposium will focus on the medical device market’s current and future outlooks, application cleanliness, business challenges, sensors/MEMS, material and component reliability, product technology, product assembly, Pb Free learned lessons, process and cost improvement projects.
A half-day course on Reliability Assurance in Medical Electronics will be conducted by Graig Hillman, DfR Solutions and Daniel Baldwin, Engent Inc.
A tabletop exhibit will feature industry suppliers.
For more info.: smta.org/education/symposia/symposia.cfm#medical
Lexington, KY -- SMC and Note AB have joined forces to establish an International Procurement Office (IPO) in Shenzhen. Both companies are partners in the ems-Alliance, a group of select EMS providers from around the world.
“Forming an IPO has been a goal for SMC since joining the ems-Alliance in 2003,” said Craig Schuster, SMC COO. “Through our established relationship with ems-Alliance partner Note AB, and strategies developed by the Alliance supply team, SMC was able to open an IPO in late 2005 in Shenzhen City, Guangdon Province, Peoples Republic of China.”
The day to day operations of the IPO are run by general manager Derek Teagle of Note AB. Teagle works with a staff of six English speaking Chinese nationals, consisting of buyers and engineers, who represent SMC and Note AB in sourcing manufacturing components in the Pacific Rim, most heavily concentrated in the low-cost region of China. They currently source custom build-to-print products such as: PCBs, cables, wiring harnesses, metals and plastics. They can also source relays, connectors and transformers.
Once the IPO locates a new supplier they must then go through an evaluation phase. The IPO office works to evaluate, qualify and approve a custom supplier prior to any purchases. On-site visits are mandatory for each new custom supplier.
SMC’s purchasing department then takes over and makes the actual purchase of the components and uses their previously established logistics companies to ship product. SMC is currently purchasing approximately 10% of their manufacturing materials off-shore.
“Forming an IPO has been a goal for SMC since joining the ems-Alliance in 2003,” said Craig Schuster, SMC COO. “Through our established relationship with ems-Alliance partner Note AB, and strategies developed by the Alliance supply team, SMC was able to open an IPO in late 2005 in Shenzhen City, Guangdon Province, Peoples Republic of China.”
The day to day operations of the IPO are run by general manager Derek Teagle of Note AB. Teagle works with a staff of six English speaking Chinese nationals, consisting of buyers and engineers, who represent SMC and Note AB in sourcing manufacturing components in the Pacific Rim, most heavily concentrated in the low-cost region of China. They currently source custom build-to-print products such as: PCBs, cables, wiring harnesses, metals and plastics. They can also source relays, connectors and transformers.
Once the IPO locates a new supplier they must then go through an evaluation phase. The IPO office works to evaluate, qualify and approve a custom supplier prior to any purchases. On-site visits are mandatory for each new custom supplier.
SMC’s purchasing department then takes over and makes the actual purchase of the components and uses their previously established logistics companies to ship product. SMC is currently purchasing approximately 10% of their manufacturing materials off-shore.
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