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Speaking of this Week — August 29, 2003
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on events in the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
The news this week is as crisp as the turning-to-fall air. The IPC Book-to-Bill Ratio and other progress news appeared in this sleepy end-of-summer week, along with news of partnerships, tradeshows, mixed financial news and forecasts. Read on:
- First, the IMS/PCB Book-to-Bill Ratio for July from Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries, which is a major reason for my good mood. In July, the ratio climbed to 1.04 from last month's level of 1.02. This is a tie for year high with March. Meanwhile, the IMS/PCB Business Report showed a shipment index of 90.9 and a booking index of 84.4 for July. The shipment index decreased 18 percent month-over-month, while the booking index decreased 30.2 percent. So things are looking up, but still remain tough for some.
- Some progress news: IPC released the next edition of its 2003-2004 publications catalog, while LaFox, Ill.-based Richardson Electronics Ltd. replaced auditors Ernst & Young with KPMG. Finally, in some negative progress news, Londonderry, N.H.-based Polyclad Laminates Inc., a Cookson Electronics PWB Materials & Chemistry business, announced plans this week to close its Nantes, France operation, impacting 64 manufacturing and administrative employees. Polyclad blames the closure on reduced demand for laminate materials throughout Europe, especially in France.
- Companies coming together: The Minneapolis-based SMTA opened a new chapter in Costa Rica, and Carlsbad, Calif.-based Asymtek Director of Applications Engineering Alan Lewis spoke at the inaugural meeting, which included a technical conference. Meanwhile, Intrinsix Corp. joined Wilsonville, Ore.-based Mentor Graphics Corp.'s FPGA Advantage Solutions Thrust (FAST) Program, and Louisville, Ky.-based Sypris Solutions Inc.'s Sypris Electronics subsidiary was awarded a contract by Raytheon Co.'s Network Centric Systems division to manufacture electronic assemblies for the Navy. In other Mentor news, the company adopted its Hi-Speed USB On-the-Go (OTG) Intellectual Property by Dallas-based Texas Instruments (TI). Finally, Ravensburg, Germany-based Rafi GmbH & Co. KG and Phoenix-based Duraswitch executed a non-exclusive license agreement, and Haverhill, Mass.-based IMI Inc. bought and installed a Coherent Model K150, 150 W class one Diamond 64 sealed CO2 laser system from Nashua, N.H.-based Laser Advantage.
- Lots of tradeshows coming up, and a whole bunch of news to go with them: The Herndon, Va.-based NEMI's Tin Whisker Accelerated Test Project will present its recommendations for tin whisker testing at SMTA International next month. IPC announced the schedules for its two Designers Learning Symposiums, taking place in early October and mid-November. Finally, Dan Shea, senior vice president and group general manager of Singapore-based Celestica Inc., will deliver the keynote address at PCB Design Conference East in late October.
- A mixed financial picture: Malvern, Pa.-based Vishay Intertechnology Inc.'s Vishay Electro-Films Division has exceeded revenue levels reached before the fire last February at its Warwick, R.I. facility. Over at Ewing, N.J.-based Universal Display Corp., there are plans to buy up to $16.1 million of its common stock in a registered direct offering. Finally, in not so good news, Salem, N.H.-based StockerYale Inc. is considering a reverse split of the company's common stock to keep StockerYale compliant with the NASDAQ national market minimum bid price.
- Forecasts and predictions seem to grow on trees lately. In recent years, the forecasters have eaten a lot of crow, so Alameda, Calif.-based Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI) did a study on — doing studies. "Best Practices in Product Forecasting" recommends forecast strategies both for product companies and their manufacturing outsourcing partners. All this will be presented on September 9 in Monterrey, Mexico during TFI's Quarterly Forum. In other predictions, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Frost & Sullivan puts the automated test equipment (ATE) at $873.3 million in 2002, and predicts a rise to $1.3 billion in 2009. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat/MDR took a look at the merchant switch fabric (MSF) market, seeing enormous growth potential over the next five years. Finally, in other In-Stat news, the forecaster sees worldwide merchant market dollar shipments of structured ASIC products rising from $5.2 million in 2002 to $460.3 million by 2007, representing a CAGR of 144.9 percent.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 60 percent of you use chip on board technology in your companies, while 40 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 mailto:christinef@pennwell.com.