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NEWS ANALYSIS
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
Cobar, Balver Hope to Exploit MERGER BEnefits
BALVER, Germany- Following Balver Zinn’s acquisition of Cobar, the solder suppliers will realign businesses to improve efficiencies, reports Josef Jost, joint managing director, Balver Zinn. Cobar will lead future solder paste, flux, and related product development, while Balver Zinn will focus on metallurgy advances for the solder lines. Balver Zinn will move its chemical manufacturing production to Cobar’s site in Breda, the Netherlands, in line with its “chemical excellence business unit” designation, notes Eli Westerlaken, founder and former president, Cobar. The partnership also has extended the companies’ sales networks and market penetration for electronics, PCBs, and electrical engineering applications. Product lines are strengthened by Cobar’s additions, Jost adds, noting that Balver will now supply a range of pastes, alloys, anodes, soft solders, wires, and fluxes.
IPC Midwest Debuts
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - The inaugural IPC Midwest Conference and Exhibition kicked off in 2007 with a sold-out exhibit floor, forums and standards development, and a keynote from NFL hall-of-famer Gale Sayers. Exhibitors focused on efficient, cost-effective electronics manufacturing and flexible tools.
Read SMT’s from-the-show perspectives at smtonline.com.
Nihon Superior representatives greet visitors at their booth.
August Book-to-Bill Climbs to 1.06The combined rigid and flex PCB industry book-to-bill for North America rose to 1.06 in August, according to IPC. Year-to-date, the flex and rigid PCB markets lag about 10% behind 2006.
- Shipments for rigid PCBs were down 10.1% from August 2006; bookings were down 5.1%. Compared to July 2007, billings rose 9.8% and bookings increased 12.8%.
- Flexible circuits posted a 24.7% decline in shipments and a 10.0% drop in bookings from August 2006.
- Compared to the previous month, flex shipments climbed 0.4% and bookings rose by 17.7%.
- Combined, the flex and rigid PCB market fell 11.1% in billings and 5.4% in bookings from August 2006. Compared to July 2007, shipments of flex and rigid PCBs increased 9.2%; bookings climbed 13.1%.