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Speaking of this Week — November 26, 2003
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on events in the electronics assembly industry every Friday. It appears in a special edition today because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
For some reason I can't explain, short weeks seem to create the most interesting news. To wit, we've got the continued ascension of the IPC book-to-bill ratio, as well some high profile progress news, partnerships, personnel and event news. Read on:
- First, of course, the Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries IMS/PCB Book-to-Bill ratio for October, which stands at 1.18. This represents a leap from September's number of 1.15, and ties September 2000's ratio of 1.18. We've seen six months of growth in this statistic — let's be thankful. In the meantime, the IMS/PCB Business Report showed a slight decrease. The shipment index was at 111.5, down from 120.8 the month previous, and the booking index was at 131.2, down from 137.1 in September. IPC says that percentages based on the index numbers reflect changes in the size of the industry — in other words, the industry is smaller, but those companies that are left are doing better year-over-year. Let's see how this bears out for the rest of 2003 and into 2004.
- Progress: There's a new inspection and rework company in town in San Diego-based FocalSpot Inc., not something you hear every day in this still-recovering economy. Meanwhile, Herzlia, Israel-based Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.'s eMPower software is simulating the new equipment control and fleet management systems at the Europe Container Terminal transportation hub. Finally, Milpitas, Calif.-based EMS giant Solectron Corp. was presented with Teradata's 2003 Supplier Excellence Award, and Londonderry, N.H.-based Polyclad Laminates Inc.'s Kuching, Malaysia received ISO 14001 certification.
- Some partnerships: Binghamton, N.Y.-based Universal Instruments Corp. will provide SMT placement capabilities for Germany-based WC Heraeus GmbH & Co. KG in Germany and China, while Samsung Techwin Ltd. has given Edgewood, N.Y.-based Dynatech International Corp. exclusive North American sales and service responsibilities for Samsung Techwin's SMT pick-and-place equipment. Finally, Advanced Digital Information Corp. finalized its agreement with Benchmark Electronics Inc. to expand an additional outsource manufacturing relationship.
- Personnel news: Townshend, Vt.-based JANOS Technology Inc. named Frederick Mullavey as director of quality, while Santa Ana, Calif.-based Express Manufacturing Inc. has a new director of engineering in Thomas Ng. Finally, West Haven, Conn.-based Enthone Inc. appointed Raymond Fong as vice president and managing director of the Asia-Pacific region.
- Finally, some event news: IPC will sponsor Capitol Hill Day on May 12, 2004, which gives IPC members the opportunity to meet with Congressional representatives.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, most of you use pull testing as a testing method.
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.