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U.S. Assemblers Growing Businesses
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
ENDICOTT, N.Y. and WOODRIDGE, Ill. – Endicott Interconnect Technologies Inc. (EI – www.endicottinterconnect.com) is looking to add more than 150 professional and full-time manufacturing employees during Q’04 2008. The company modified its employment practices to reflect its stable economic position and need for an expanding workforce, EI asserts, converting qualified temporary employees to full-time, permanent status. The positive employment changes and increased hiring reflect heightened demand from defense and high-end computing markets for PCB fabrication and assembly. The firm has added 300 jobs and spent over $28 million in the past three years for capital equipment.
The Morey Corp. will add 280% manufacturing capacity by June 2009.
The Morey Corporation (www.moreycorp.com) is expanding capacity at its Illinois headquarters, nearly doubling the existing facility’s manufacturing square footage and increasing manufacturing automation. The Morey Corp. is anticipating growth in the integration and hardening of telematics technologies, which the EMS provider develops and manufactures. Enhancements will include an additional 45,000 square feet of manufacturing, 29,000 square feet of warehousing, and an additional support area. The first phase will add an automated double-sided SMT line; two selective soldering stations; a double-sided conformal coating line; an AOI station; and an in-circuit test station.
Suppliers Boast Asian Expansions
China and Singapore – Mouser Electronics Inc., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway, opened a Shanghai, China, customer service center for its distribution business to support local design engineers and component buyers. The facility will serve electronics houses throughout Asia, with a focus on China. Mouser representatives will provide customer and technical support, live chat over the Internet, and e-mail at shanghai@mouser.com.
Essemtec’s Suzhou demo center includes printing and component placement systems.
Equipment supplier Essemtec opened a customer training center in Suzhou, China. Automatic and semiautomatic SMD production equipment is installed for demos, education, and evaluation. The showroom, operated by local distributor Smart Technology Ltd., offers PANTERA-XV, a flexible automatic pick-and-place system; EXPERT-SAFP, a semiautomatic SMD pick-and-place system; and SP003-MLV, a semiautomatic stencil printer. Local SMD production process experts also will provide machine and process training. Visit www.essemtec.com for additional product information.
Asymtek, a Nordson company, expanded and moved to a new location in Singapore. The larger facility includes a modern lab with a range of the company’s dispensing and coating equipment for customer applications, training, and process development. The region is home to leading semiconductor packaging and PCB assemblers serving a range of industries, according to Asymtek. The Singapore facility is co-located with Nordson and sister company EFD. N.S. Ng, regional business manager, nsng@asymtek.com, directs Singapore’s daily operations and its distributor network.
August Book-to-Bill
The combined rigid and flex PCB industry book-to-bill for North America stayed steady at 0.95 in August, according to IPC. The ratio has stayed between 0.94 and 0.96 since May 2008.
- Shipments for rigid PCBs are up 2.5% and bookings dropped 14.9% from August 2007. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 5.3%; bookings are up by 1.7%. The rigid circuits book-to-bill ticked upward to 0.95.
- Flexible circuits shipments rose 18.9% and bookings declined 24.3% compared to August 2007. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are up 9.0%; bookings are down 8.7%. The flexible circuits book-to-bill tipped dropped below parity to 0.90.
- Combined, the flex and rigid PCB market shipments increased 3.5% from the same month last year, and orders booked decreased 15.5% over the same period. Year to date, combined industry shipments are up 5.6% and bookings tipped up 1.0%. The combined book-to-bill ratio hit 0.95. SMT
Pick-and-Place Providers Work on Structural Changes
MUNICH, Germany and VELDHOVEN, The Netherlands – Siemens and Assemblé on each are executing major changes in response to market and economic factors, streamlining workforces and consolidating operations. Most international units of the Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems (EA) business are converting to legally independent companies. Siemens EA, with 1,800 employees globally, will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of Siemens Drive Technologies, headquartered in Munich. Siemens hopes to create a better international presence with the new operating structure. Reorganization should be complete in January 2009, with Günter Lauber, the current head of Siemens EA, as CEO and Ingrid Gaggermeier as CFO. Details are at www.siplace.com.
Assemblé on aims to adapt to the current global economy with a structural cost reduction plan. The company requested advice from its Works Council on the proposal to reduce Netherlands staff from about 390 to 255 positions. Assemblé on released a statement that it would try to assist affected employees in finding new positions, and that it is discussing the changes with social partners. More information is at www.assembleon.com.
Assemblé on’s proposal includes cutting its global workforce from around 720 to 510 positions, or about 29%. Siemens AG’s ongoing restructuring initially is forecast to eliminate 16,750 jobs globally, about 4% of the German company as a whole.