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Speaking of this Week — May 2, 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.
There's so much going on this week, it's hard to keep track of it all. Case in point: The bellwether IPC Book-to-Bill Ratio hit the street this week, and there is some personnel news — even here on SMT. We've got the requisite progress news, as well as tradeshow happenings, companies coming together, bits of financial and legislative news, and some looks at the industry, past and future. It's all making my head spin! Let's get going:
- First, Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries released their Book-to-Bill Ratio for March. This all-important statistic climbed to 1.04, up from 1.03 in February, 1.02 in January and 0.96 in December 2002. I predict that this same slow growth will continue through the second quarter. In the meantime, the IMS/PCB Business Report revealed more good news. The shipment index was 107.4, up 4.2 percent from 103 last month, and the booking index was 109.3, a 7.8 percent increase from 101.4 the previous month. I smell (slow) recovery.
- We've got some personnel news, and this week, it comes from in house. First off, my colleague, Jenny Popp, was promoted to senior associate editor of both SMT and our sister publication, Advanced Packaging, a move that reflects her many years with the magazine. In addition, I was promoted to managing editor of SMT, while maintaining my Web site duties. Finally, there's a new face on the staff. Ryan Cliche, formerly with PennWell publication CleanRooms, joined us as managing editor of Advanced Packaging, as well as becoming that publication's Web editor. Outside of SMT, Santa Ana, Calif.-based ITT Industries, Cannon appointed Bruce R. Mendoza as director of human resources for its connector operations in California and Mexico.
- Lots of progress, and it's good to see: Key Largo, Fla.-based A.P.E. South announced this week that all its field service engineers and sales managers completed the Joint Industry Standard Instructor Course (EPC/EIA J-STD-001C). Meanwhile, Albuquerque-based Conductor Analysis Technologies Inc. (CAT Inc.) and IPC opened the first test laboratory outside the U.S. equipped to test the IPC Process Capability, Quality and Relative Reliability (PCQR2) test panels, located in Hong Kong. In other lab news, Irvine, Calif.-based Newport Corp. opened its newly enhanced Systems Test & Metrology Lab. Grand Rapids, Mich.-based Technical Air Products expanded operations at a new location in Belmont, Mich., while Lake Success, N.Y.-based Park Electrochemical Corp. realigned its North American FR-4 business operations in Newburgh, N.Y. and Fullerton, Calif. The company also created a new business unit called Nelco/North America that will include the company's FR-4 manufacturing operations formerly located in these two locations, located in Newburgh.
- Two bits of tradeshow news: IPC and the Die Products Consortium (DPC) are co-sponsoring a free online conference on May 16. IPC is also co-sponsoring the International Conference on Lead-free Electronics with SOLDERTEC in June in Brussels, Belgium.
- Companies continue to come together in multiple ways: Italian carmaker Fiat Auto S.p.A. will implement Nashua, N.H.-based Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd.'s eMPower products into its operations. Meanwhile, in other news, Ooosterhout, The Netherlands-based Vitronics Soltec appointed Japan-based Thermo-Tech Co. Ltd. as its sales and service representative for Japan, while ITT Industries, Cannon made Stratos Lightwave Inc. a value-added reseller of its PHD optical interconnects system, and San Jose, Calif.-based Tessera Inc. formed a technology licensing agreement with Japan-based Seiko Epson.
- A bit of financial news: Myrtle Beach, S.C.-based AVX Corp. reported net sales of $261.2 million in the fourth quarter and $11 billion for the fiscal year, both ended March 31.
- Legislative news: Washington, D.C.-based trade organization AeA published a new guide for U.S. high-tech companies to the European environmental laws. The guide revealed that companies have less than two years to comply with the Restrictions on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) and the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directives.
- Finally, some predictions: Natick, Mass.-based Venture Development Corp. (VDC) forecasts that shipment shares of multi-variable pressure transducers and transmitters to U.S. markets will rise slightly from $1.2 billion in 2002 to $1.4 billion in 2007. And Norwalk, Conn.-based Business Communications Co. Inc. (BCC) sees the total U.S. market for advanced ceramic powders rising from 918 million lb, worth $1.6 billion, in 2002, to 1.2 billion lb worth $2.3 billion in 2007.
This just in: According to this week's Quick Vote, 60 percent of you said the threat of SARS (sudden acute respiratory syndrome) kept you from traveling to Asia, 30 percent of you aren't deterred, and 10 percent of you asked, "What's SARS?".
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.