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Speaking of this Week — February 6, 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.
The word "expand" was used a lot this week in regards to facilities, partnerships and financial results. News of trade shows also is in the mix, as are personnel announcements. Let's do it:
- Elgin, Ill.-based Panasonic Factory Automation (PFA) announced its new offering, Solutions, which aims to demonstrate the benefits of customers partnering with their OEMs. In expansion news, Bethlehem, Pa.-based FlexLink Systems Inc. will relocate its headquarters to Allentown next month, and Pittsburgh-based I-Source Technical Services Inc. opened a manufacturing plant in Tijuana, Mexico. Finally, Oldsmar, Fla.-based Genesis Electronics Manufacturing Inc. (GEM) is transitioning its operations to a facility it bought from Jabil Global Services in July, and Southington, Conn.-based Baumer Electric launched a new Web site for customers in the U.S. and Mexico.
- Companies continue to expand their boundaries through collaboration, partnerships, and sometimes even mergers and acquisitions. For example, Binghamton, N.Y.-based Universal Instruments Corp. and Hitachi High Technologies (HHT) renewed their OEM agreement for five more years, while Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Analytical Inc. (NWA) and ASECO Integrated Systems formed a partnership to combine off-the-shelf statistical process control (SPC) solutions with a scaleable data base design, throwing in a set of integration tools that aim to simplify implementation. In a similar vein, Melville, N.Y.-based Nu Horizons Electronics Corp. and Santa Clara, Calif.-based Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. (ISSI) expanded their product service and market distribution agreement to stretch overseas. Finally, Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron Inc. completed its previously announced plan to divest its Dy 4 Systems business to Curtiss-Wright Corp. The sale will help Solectron focus on its key strategy.
- A bunch of high-end personnel announcements came to light this week: North Billerica, Mass.-based BTU International Inc. has a new vice president of marketing in Tom Nash. Meanwhile, Industry, Calif.-based Henkel Technologies promoted Bhavesh H. Muni to the position of sales and marketing manager, semiconductor packaging. Finally, Chicago-based Ircon Inc. added three members to its sales team, Paul Olinick in the U.S. and TH Lim and Seung Chul Hong in Asia, while St. Louis-based Watlow named Don Commare product manager for its controller systems platform.
- Some news on upcoming trade shows: The Herndon, Va.-based National Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) announced its slate of meetings to be held during APEX in Anaheim, Calif. later this month. In similar fashion, Aurora, Colo.-based Advanced Circuits will showcase its FreeDFM engineering service at the show. Finally, Montreal-based solder supplier AIM announced an all-day lead-free seminar to take place in Sydney, Australia late in March, with more to follow.
- Some financial news: Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based AVX Corp. declared a dividend of approximately 4 cents a share for the quarter ended December 31, while Forest Grove, Ore.-based Merix Corp. announced that underwriters of its public offering will sell 500,000 additional shares of common stock to cover over-allotments. Finally, West Chicago, Ill.-based M-Wave Inc. has received an extension on its loan to Bank One NA. The loan is part of M-Wave's restructuring.
- Finally, results from a study: UK-based Tin Technology conducted a study on tin stripping as part of its Sustainable Technology Initiative. The study's aim was to help discover more environmentally friendly, sustainable technologies with regards to manufacturing processes. Results can be found at www.tintechnology.biz/soldertec/soldertec.aspx?page_id=1607&SelectedMenu_ID=-1.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 43 percent of you are exhibiting new products at APEX/IPC Printed Circuit Expo, 29 percent are not, 7 percent are not sure and 21 percent are not attending the combined shows. We'll be there with bells on.
Have some insight on the industry? See something you don't agree with? Think I'm right on? Send it all to me at mailto:christinef@pennwell.com.