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Speaking of this Week -- December 13, 2002
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
Usually, news dries up this time of year as people look ahead to stockings hung by the chimney with care and companies prepare to go on shutdown for the holidays. But we've had a deluge this year, especially those all-important joint ventures, agreements, acquisitions, alliances and general companies coming together. We've also got progress and personnel news, especially in high places. There's some tradeshow news thrown in, as well as a prediction for an important piece of the market. Let's unwrap the week:
- Acquisitions and agreements ran wild this week. For example, Cranston, R.I.-based AIM Solder bought the SMT solder paste assets of OMG's Microbond division, located in Raleigh, N.C. San Juan Capistrano, Calif.-based Endevco is collaborating with National Instruments, all in the name of open sensors standards -- namely, IEEE P1451.4. Meanwhile, Petaluma, Calif.-based Tegal Corp. completed the first phase of a joint development project with STMicroelectronics concerning development of new wafer etch processes. In other such news, LaFox, Ill.-based Richardson Electronics was named an authorized distributor for Oregon-based Planar Systems in North America and Europe, and Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd. picked Carlsbad, Calif.-based Asymtek's Millennium M-620 dispensing systems for use in its Osaka, Japan printed circuit board facility. Helsinki, Finland-based Elcoteq Network Corp. had a busy week. The company announced that its partnership with Wavecom, based in Beijing, China, was progressing as expected, despite Wavecom reducing headcount there. Elcoteq also joined Symbian's Platinum Partner Program, enabling the company to design mobile handsets based on the Symbian operating system. Symbian is jointly owned by seven giants of consumer electronics. Finally, Scharding, Austria-based EV Group (EVG) shipped and installed several EVG850 automated SOI wafer bonding systems at manufacturing companies in Japan.
- Important progress news: Singapore-based Flextronics opened a new Technology Center in the pivotal city of Guadalajara, Mexico. In the same vein, Irvine, Calif.-based Newport Corp. opened a new facility for its growing Newport Precision Optics (NPO) Business. Santa Ana, Calif.-based Express Manufacturing Inc. launched a Web-based reporting capability for customers' quality reports. Finally, the aforementioned Elcoteq proclaimed it will reach its previously announced sales and profit targets in 2002. That's good news!
- Some high-ranking personnel news this week: Milpitas, Calif.-based Solectron Corp. has a new senior vice president of worldwide human resources, as well as a corporate officer, in Kevin O'Connor, while San Jose, Calif.-based Pragmax Software Corp. appointed Richard C. Watts as CEO at its new headquarters in California to help it build market share in the pivotal U.S. market. Another high-ranking appointment was Dennis Hebert named president of Irvine, Calif.-based HID Corp. Finally, West Haven, Conn.-based Enthone Inc., a Cookson Electronics PWB Materials & Chemistry business, appointed Edward Kudrak as materials laboratory manager, while Herndon, Va.-based trade organization NEMI welcomed seven new companies of different disciplines as members.
- Tradeshow news: The recent electronicAsia show, which took place in mid-October in Hong Kong, saw its number of exhibitors rise slightly year-over-year, from 502 in 2001 to 511 in 2002. There were 16,000 visitors, and among those, European visitors were up 10 percent. Looking ahead, Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC -- Association Connecting Electronics Industries announced the technical conference sessions and tutorial and workshop schedule for IPC Printed Circuits Expo 2003, taking place at the end of March 2003 in Long Beach, Calif.
- Finally, a prediction: Norwalk, Conn.-based Business Communications Co. Inc. forecasts that the worldwide market for MEMS/MST will grow from $11 billion currently to $26.4 billion by 2007, representing an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 19.1 percent.
Some final food for thought: This week's Quick Vote revealed that 85 percent of you did not attend NEPCON West last week in San Jose, 8 percent of you went and it was about what you expected, and 8 percent of you went and it was not what you expected.
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.