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Speaking of this Week — August 20, 2004
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca, Managing Editor, SMT
Speaking of this Week summarizes and analyzes events in the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
With the fall trade show season drawing closer, it's no surprise that news of upcoming shows and events (many of them having to do with lead-free) dominated the news this week. There's also some progress news, alliances and sales, personnel and financial news, and some looks at the future of two different segments of the industry.
- Houston-based BP Microsystems will be exhibiting at GlobalTRONICS in Singapore, which takes place in early September. (Look for the August issue of SMT there as well.) Meanwhile, manufacturing CFOs looking to expand into white-hot areas like Latin America, Asia-Pacific and Europe will gather in mid-September at the Customer Financing Conference in Chicago to learn about managing risk and boosting sales. At the end of September, Franklin, Mass.-based Speedline Technologies will have its stencil printer and reflow soldering system as part of the EASi manufacturing line, which shows off the different machinery that comprises a line and present attendees with a working electronic game made by the line at the end of it. Finally, in the lead-free arena, San Diego-based KIC will co-sponsor a lead-free workshop with Engent, Henkel Technologies and Speedline Technologies in mid-October at Engent's Norcross, Ga. facility. And Paul T. Vianco, Ph.D. of Sandia National Laboratories will be the speaker at the SMTA LA/Orange County Chapter's late October meeting. He will provide an introduction into the materials engineering aspects of lead-free solder electronic interconnections.
- In progress news, Northbrook-based (for now) IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries will move on down the road to Bannockburn, about nine miles from where the association is now, late next month. Cranston, R.I.-based AIM formed a packaging materials division as a direct subsidiary of its specialty materials division, while Berkshire, UK-based Advanced Layout Solutions re-launched its Web site, which offers information on services the company offers. Finally, Helsinki, Finland-based Elcoteq Network Corp. made some major changes to its organization and management's reporting responsibilities.
- In alliance and acquisition news, Speedline has formed a sales and marketing alliance with Sayama City, Saitama, Japan-based Tamura FA System Corp. for the Japanese market, and Automation South will represent Londonderry, N.H.-based Cobar Solder Products in the U.S. Southeast. Finally, Rockville, Md.-based BAE Systems North America completed its acquisition of Reston, Va.-based Practical Imagineering Inc.. The newly acquired company will keep facilities in Reston and operate within the Electronic Warfare/Information Warfare business of BAE, located right down the street from SMT's offices in Nashua, N.H.
- A few bits of personnel news: Carlsbad, Calif.-based Machine Vision Products (MVP) appointed Debra Waltemyer as its sales engineer for the East Coast; Lake Success, N.Y.-based Park Electrochemical Corp. promoted Freddy Lee as its Asia-Pacific director of product sales; and St. Louis-based Watlow has a new manager of internal communications in Frank Daub.
- Financial news: Cambridge, Ontario, Canada-based ATS Automation Tooling Systems Inc. reported financial results for its first quarter ended June 30, which saw substantial increases in consolidated revenue, automation systems order backlog, net earnings and a record performance by the company's Solar Group. Meanwhile, Anaheim, Calif.-based Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc. (M-FLEX), which went public in June, announced earnings guidance for its fourth quarter and established a new policy for investors regarding guidance. And Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron Corp. remarketed its subordinated debentures due 2006.
- Finally, some looks at different parts of the industry: Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat/MDR seems MEMS moving into more consumer electronic products, meaning it forecasts revenues for MEMS in consumer electronics to grow at a CAGR of 13.2 percent from 2003 to 2008. And research by Palo Alto, Calif.-based Frost & Sullivan reveals that consumption of lead-free solder paste is highest in Japan, driven mostly by (you guessed it) consumer electronics.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 83 percent of you read the SMT e-newsletter, while 17 percent do not. Do you like it? Not like it? E-mail me and tell me what you think.
Have some insight on the industry? See something you don't agree with? Think I'm right on? Send it all to me at christinef@pennwell.com.