News
Tempe, AZ - Manufacturing ticked down in March yet grew for the 22nd consecutive month. Growth in new orders and inventories helped offset lower production, and backlogs jumped, said the Institute for Supply Management (ism.ws).
"The manufacturing sector maintained its strength in March, ISM chairman Norbert Ore said, adding that "price inflation continues to present a problem for manufacturers."
The PMI measure of economic activity ticked down 0.1 points sequentially, to 55.2%. New orders were up 1.3 points to 57.1%. Production was almost even, at 56.5%. Employment was down 4.1 points, to 53.3%.
Electronic Components and Equipment, and Industrial and Commercial Equipment and Computers were among the sectors reporting growth.
[TABLE]
Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. March
PMI 57.8 57.3 56.4 55.3 55.2
New orders 61.5 61.6 56.5 55.8 57.1
Production 57.0 56.7 57.8 56.7 56.5
Inventories 50.7 52.8 52.8 48.6 54.1
Customer inventories 43.5 44.0 44.5 42.5 46.0
Backlogs 47.5 54.0 50.5 50.5 56.0
Source: Institute for Supply Management, April 2005
LAUSANNE, Switzerland, April 5 -- Synova has opened a new Japanese office to provide localized sales and support for the company's water jet-guided laser systems.
Accounting for more than 40% of Synova's revenue in 2004, the Asia-Pacific region is the company's largest market, with the majority fueled by the semiconductor and electronics sectors.
Synova has also recently opened local offices in Hong Kong and Korea, and established distributor partnerships in Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and India.
The small amount of nickel in SN100C modifies its behavior so that in wave soldering the resultant alloy exhibits fluidity comparable with that of traditional tin-lead solder, AIM said in a press release. The result is that excess solder drains off the joint and bridges and icicles are avoided. The nickel also provides smooth, bright and well-formed fillets, AIM said.
SN100C contains no silver or phosphorus, and is not aggressive toward copper traces and pads or stainless-steel components of soldering equipment.
The closing is part of the company's plan to reduce its workforce by 5,500 of its 47,000 workers worldwide.
Other closings announced to date are in Mount Pleasant, IA, Raleigh, NC and Salem, NH. Over 1,500 workers have been affected.
Fort Collins employs 500 full-time and 300 part-time workers.
Nikon hopes to coordinate the applications engineering and service departments, product management and sales teams to prepare for new business opportunities in precision measurement and inspection.
SITECH, including the new Vision Systems and Semiconductor Inspections divisions, will be lead by Takeshi Kamiya, general manager.
"Worldwide sales of semiconductors have been stronger than expected during first two months of 2005," said SIA president George Scalise. "Flat sales in January followed by a modest sequential decline in February are actually encouraging signs given that these two months are normally slow periods for the industry."
Consumer spending patterns have become increasingly important to the worldwide semiconductor industry, Scalise noted. The SIA estimates that half of all semiconductor consumption in 2004 was driven by consumer purchases.
The industry "is paying closer attention to indicators of consumer confidence. At this time, those indicators appear to be positive," Scalise said.
Sales of personal computers and wireless handsets have increased from the same period of 2004 SIA, said. Microprocessor sales are up 11% from February 2004, DRAMs up 36% and ASICs for wireless applications up 53%.
Scalise said excess inventories are no longer a factor in industry sales. "According to iSuppli, excess inventories have continued to decline from $1.6 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2004 and will be at $700,000 million at the end of the first quarter of 2005.
"The overall health of the global semiconductor industry remains strong. If the current trends continue, our forecast for flat industry sales for 2005 could prove to have been overly cautious," Scalise said.
