SAN JOSE — The 90-day moving average bookings at North America-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers in April jumped 22.5% over last year and 10.8% over the revised March 2014 levels. Orders reached $1.44 billion for the period, said SEMI.

The book-to-bill ratio slipped three basis points to 1.03 but remained above the key 1.0 level. A ratio of 1.03 means that $103 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. A ratio above 1.0 is considered a sign of an expanding market.

The three-month average worldwide billings in April was $1.4 billion, up 28.7% year-over-year and 14.1% from March.

"Sales of semiconductor manufacturing equipment from North American producers continue to demonstrate strong sequential and year-over-year growth,” a SEMI spokesperson said. SEMI. “The data through the first quarter reflects momentum in memory, foundry, and back-end spending.”

The SEMI book-to-bill is a ratio of three-month moving averages of worldwide bookings and billings for North American-based semiconductor equipment manufacturers. Billings and bookings figures are in millions of U.S. dollars.

Source: SEMI, May 2014

SIOUX FALLS, SD -- Raven Industries said sales at its Aerostar division, which includes its contract assembly services, fell 18.4% year-over-year in the April quarter.

Lower contract manufacturing revenue accounted for more than the full decline in revenue. The company reported Aerostar's revenue was $17.7 million as contract manufacturing sales dipped $5.8 million from a year ago, offset in part by $1.4 million in new revenue from Google.

Operating income for the unit was flat, versus a profit of $1.8 million a year ago.

In a move to improve margins, the company is shifting away from contract work toward proprietary product lines.

SALEM, NH -- EMS provider Data Electronic Devices yesterday officially opened its NPI center here in the building in which the company was launched in 1977.

The two-story facility at 18 Bridge St. has been completely remodeled and refinished, but retains much of the charm of the original building, which dates to 1914. A hand-operable elevator near the center of the open concept building offers both tremendous visual interest as well as functionality in a pinch, for example.

The site features several workstations for engineering projects, hand soldering and test benches, a full SMT line including two stencil printers and a Mydata MY500 printer, Mydata MY9 and MY12 placement machines, a Heller 1809EXL reflow oven and a Pillarhouse Jade S-200 selective soldering machine.

Other lines include a VJ Electronix Summit 1800 rework machine, Nordson YesTech B3 AOI, Aqueous Technologies Trident cleaner, Glenbrook xray, and aThermatron environmental chamber.

ESD flooring has been installed throughout the entire building.

The company named Lori Giglio to manage the NPI center.

DataEd had an NPI line in its production factory in Salem, but said the new site was opened as the request of customers who wanted to be able to work on projects away from the bustle of the main site, Bob Bibeau, vice president of engineering/quality, told CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY.

The company has assigned seven workers to the NPI facility, where all workers will eventually be cross-trained. It also has 115 workers at its 65,000 sq. ft. production plant in Salem and 275 at its 55,000 sq. ft. plant in China. DataEd customers range from entrepreneurs to billion-dollar companies.

WESTLAKE, OH -- Nordson today reported second-quarter results at its Advanced Technology Systems business unit fell 3% from the prior year. Solid organic growth in electronics test and inspection and fluid management equipment was offset by softness for automated dispensing equipment in certain mobile end-markets. 

For company's fiscal second quarter ended April 30. The ATS unit includes Dage, YesTech, Asymtek, and March, among others.

Orders for Asymtek have been recovering, however, the company's top executive said.

"We have begun to see an increase in orders for automated systems in recent weeks and we expect to generate solid sales growth in our third quarter within this segment,” said president and CEO Michael Hilton.

Geographically, organic sales growth in the second quarter over the prior year in the US and Europe was offset by softness in other regions. Operating margin for the Advanced Technology segment was 24% in the second quarter, up 13 percentage points from the first quarter.

Overall company sales for the quarter were $417 million, up 9% from a year ago.