-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
Speaking of this Week — April 16, 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.
Like the seasons changing, progress keeps happening in the electronics assembly industry. We've also got companies coming together, personnel and trade show news, a financial announcement, and some really interesting predictions and looks at the industry. Let's get to it:
- In education news, San Jose, Calif.-based Venture Outsource Group President Mark Zetter is getting involved in a graduate course at San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based California Polytechnic State University on commercializing technological development. This week, several distributorships came to light as well. Santa Clara, Calif.-based Advantest Corp. named Hayward, Calif.-based MetricTest an authorized distributor in the U.S., while Ashburn, Va.-based ZESTRON America announced new sales representation across the U.S. and Canada and Castronno, Italy-based Rohm and Haas Electronic Materials named Hong Kong-based Grandmake Technology Ltd. distributor for China and Hong Kong. In other partnerships, American Power Conversion partnered with Milford, Mass.-based Milford Manufacturing Services (MMC) to implement MMC's The Looking Glass. Finally, Wake Forest, N.C.-based SMT Resource Group LLC bought the manufacturing equipment from 3Com's plant in Ireland, which includes 50 SMT machines plus testers and supporting boxbuild equipment.
- Some progress: Kenosha, Wis.-based Pro-mation Inc. finished a two-year performance study on 20 PCB handling products, and Tokyo-based Omron Corp. saw the 500 millionth MY mini power relay roll off its production lines since the first one was produced in 1967. FlexLink opened its new headquarters in Allentown, Pa. The company moved it from the nearby town of Bethlehem. Finally, Finnish competition authorities approved Helsinki-based Elcoteq Network Corp.'s divestiture of its industrial electronics business.
- Personnel news: Teddington, UK-based National Physical Laboratory (NPL) honored Colin Lea, one of its scientists, for 33 years of service, as well as for his 60th birthday. And Santa Clara, Calif.-based Advantest America Inc., subsidiary of Advantest Corp. appointed Dennis Malloy VP of sales, while FlexLink has a new VP of sales and marketing, as well as a customer and field service manager for the Americas in Werner Heydlauf and Jeff Hockman, respectively.
- Companies are ramping up for the upcoming trade show season. For example, UK-based Tin Technology will give pre-booked demonstrations of its new XiDAT 6600 X-ray imaging system from Fremont, Calif.-based Dage Precision Industries at the upcoming NEPCON show. And the Minneapolis-based SMTA is launching a series of workshops about implementing lead-free throughout the U.S., scheduled for late June and early November.
- Financial news from Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron Corp.: The EMS giant commenced an offer this week to exchange 95 percent of its outstanding 7.25 percent adjustable conversion rate equity security units.
- Finally, some critical looks at the industry present and future, some good, some bad: The Arlington, Va.-based Electronic Components, Assemblies & Materials Association (ECA) announced that its monthly order index continues to crawl upward for March. Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries is making the Chinese currency manipulation issue a top priority in its Capitol Hill Day agenda for mid-May. This issue severely affects trade relations between the U.S. and China, which have been brought into the spotlight through the U.S. electronics industry's uptick in manufacturing there. Speaking of outsourcing, the Washington, D.C.-based AeA released a paper on offshore outsourcing in high-tech this week, finding it to be a complex issue with many mitigating factors. Finally, Natick, Mass.-based Venture Development Corp. forecasts that the total U.S. unit volume shipments of USB computer cables will rise from 28 million in 2003 to 65.5 million by 2005, representing a compound annual growth rate of 18.5 percent.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 55 percent of you have a college degree, while 45 percent do not.
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.