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PALO ALTO, CA, July 28 -- Varian Inc. today reported record third-quarter sales of $236.7 million, up 13.4% over last year, on strength in all its primary sectors.

"We are pleased with the results, particularly in a third quarter, which is traditionally a challenging quarter for us," said Garry W. Rogerson, president and CEO, in a statement.

Pro-forma net earnings were $16.1 million, up from $12.3 million last year. GAAP net earnings were $15.4 million, vs. $10.7 million, when the company wrote down $1.6 million in restructuring and other one-time charges.

Last quarter Varian took $1.6 million in restructuring charges due to a previously announced consolidation of consumables factories in southern California.

EMS revenues were up 17.5%, to $52.7 million, on higher demand for medical and industrial equipment. The EMS pro-forma and GAAP operating profit margin was 12.2%.

Overall, the operating profit margin was 10.5% on a pro-forma basis and 8.9% on a GAAP basis.

Weymouth, UK -- DEK (www.dek.com) has developed a high throughput backside wafer coating process, hosted on a mass imaging platform and capable of exceeding the ± 12.5 µm total thickness variation (TTV) stipulated by most wafer processing specialists. The new process is compatible with underfill or adhesive-type coatings, normally applied at a nominal 50 µm thickness to the backside of semiconductor wafers ahead of singulation.

"TTV is the critical success factor for any backside wafer coating process," said Clive Ashmore of DEK's global applied process engineering group. "By demonstrating our ability to meet the established criteria for backside wafer processing, we have opened new opportunities for semiconductor packaging specialists to increase throughput and reduce the cost per package by using high accuracy mass imaging."

The new process is compatible with the company's metal stencil and emulsion screen technologies.

Binghamton, NY -- July 22 -- Universal Instruments Corp. today announced the resignation of its president, Ian McEvoy, who is leaving the industry to pursue other interests.

Ian deSouza, Universal senior vice president of operations and systems, was promoted to president, effective Aug. 16.

"I also look forward to the prospect of having very little to change. Our customers will notice no difference, except our continuing progress, growth and commitment," deSouza said in a press statement.

During the past three years, deSouza was responsibile for global supply chain, software development and manufacturing activities, including the company's new operations in China.

In a statement, Universal said DeSouza is considered the "right and natural choice" to take the company forward. For over three years he has been McEvoy's deputy.

"I welcome the opportunity to take the reins from an old friend who has distinguished himself well in the role," said deSouza.

McEvoy plans to return to the U.K., where his family resides. He is credited for pulling the company through the 2001-02 recession and returning it to profitability in 2003.

McEvoy and deSouza worked closely for the past 20 years, through prior stints at Domino Printing Science and Cambridge Instruments. They were colloquially known within Universal as the "two Ian's."

Toronto -- July 22 -- Celestica Inc. reported June quarter revenue rose 45% over last year, to $2.3 billion, in line with guidance. Sequentially, revenue grew 15%, though the company remained in the red.

The top tier EMS company showed a GAAP net loss of $25.5 million, including a pretax charge of $51.5 million for restructuring. Celestica lost $39.8 million last year.

"Stable end markets, improved operating efficiency and benefits from cost cutting have allowed Celestica to show improvements in its second quarter results," said Steve Delaney, CEO, in a statement. "Our revenue is growing, our margins are improving, our European and Americas operations are profitable again and we are starting to show positive earnings momentum.

Celestica guided for third-quarter sales of $2.25 billion to $2.40 billion and adjusted earnings per share of 11 to 17 cents.

Celestica is continuing its acquisition of another major EMS firm, MSL. In a research note, Deutsche Bank forecast Celestica's internal restructuring, new program ramps and the acquisition of MSL would drive continued sequential operating improvement in the September quarter.

Willow Grove, PA —Tyco Electronics' (http://automation.tycoelectronics.com) P350 is an x-y insertion machine for automatic insertion of PCBs.

The fully automatic machine can apply a variety of terminals for PCBs with three product-specific insertion heads. Each head has a rotary insertion finger that allows products to be applied at different angles without rotating the PCB. Conversion kits for different insertion tools are available to allow as production requirements change.

The machine is SMEMA compatible and supplied with PCB transfer belts for inline operation. PCBs are positioned under the insertion head by an x-y table driven by servo motors. A multi-tasking controller controls the entire system by driving the motors and monitoring the insertion process. Operator interface is via icon driven software with a touch screen monitor.

It can insert up to 350 pins per minute, has a maximum insertion area of 600 x 400 mm, and features 0.02 mm repeatability.

SAN JOSE, July 20 - Sanmina-SCI showed a third-quarter profit as revenues jumped nearly 16% from the year-ago quarter, but the company will take a $100 million restructuring charge as it reduces capacity in North America and Europe.

For the third quarter ended June 26, Sanmina-SCI reported revenues of $3.07 billion, up 7.2% sequentially and 15.9% over last year. Operating income was $68.8 million, an increase of 21.1% over the prior quarter and up 72% from last year.

Sanmina will incur a restructuring charge of up to approximately $100 million as it shifts capacity from North America and Western Europe to Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia.

"Our Eastern European, Latin American and Asian operations are operating more efficiently than previously forecast," said Jure Sola, Sanmina's chairman and CEO, in a statement. "As a result, we plan to realign our manufacturing operations in high-cost locations, and leverage our expanding capacity and technical capabilities in more cost-efficient regions such as Eastern Europe, Latin America and Asia." However, Sanmina's PCB capacity utilization rates are reportedly somewhat lower than other major firms. Merix, for example, recently reported capacity utilization rates of over 90%.

By restructuring, Sanmina-SCI expects to save $22 million to $24 million per quarter, president and COO Randy Furr said Tuesday on a conference call with analysts. The company did not say which plants were targeted for closure.

Earlier in the quarter, Sanmina-SCI announced the pending purchase of Pentex-Schweizer, a Singapore-based PCB company.

For the quarter, cash cycle days improved to 31 days and inventory turns rose from 9.3 in Q2 to 10.4. At quarter's end, Sanmina reported $1 billion in cash and short-term investments, working capital of $2.2 billion and stockholders' equity of $3.3 billion.

"Our results this quarter are primarily due to growth in key customer end-markets and increased demand for our high-end EMS product programs," said Sola.

Sanmina-SCI reaffirmed its guidance for fourth-quarter revenue to be in the range of $3.1 billion to $3.3 billion.