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Speaking of this Week -- October 4, 2002
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
By Christine F. Della Monaca
Speaking of this Week reflects on the electronics assembly industry every Friday.
It's hard to get excited about reporting the IPC-Book-to-Bill when it remains fairly flat -- but, of course, that means it didn't fall. Trade show news continues to dominate this week (we are in heavy tradeshow season, after all), followed by the three Ps of progress, partnership and personnel. There's a bit of bad financial news, but some interesting surveys appeared this week about the industry. On with the show:
- First, of course, the Northbrook, Ill.-based IPC -- Association Connecting Electronics Industries(r)' Book-to-Bill Ratio for August 2002, which stood at 0.98. Sales billed (shipments) in August 2002 decreased 8.9 percent year-over-year and orders booked decreased 1.7 percent from August 2001. Compared to 2001, bookings of PCBs are down 18 percent year-to-date, while shipments of PCBs are down 29 percent year-to-date. Compared to the rest of 2002, the picture is flatter: In July, the ratio was 0.99. The ratio's highest point this year was in January, where it hit 1.01. The Book-to-Bill fell slightly to 1.00 in February, slipped to 0.98 for March, and slid slightly lower to 0.94 in April. In May and June, it bounced back a bit to 0.96. I predict it will stay on the low side of 1.00 for the rest of the year. Meanwhile, the PCB Business Report reported the PCB shipment index was 125.7 and the PCB booking index was 117.6 for August 2002. The IPC PCB shipment index in August 2002 increased 10.6 percent from 113.6 in July 2002, and the IPC PCB booking index in August 2002 decreased 1.2 percent from 118.9 in July 2002.
- In tradeshow news: Nashua, N.H.-based Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. hosted the MPM Forum 2002 this week in Tokyo. Daratech CEO and founder Charles Foundyller gave the keynote address on Manufacturing Process Management (MPM). Meanwhile, San Mateo, Calif.-based ElectroniCast Corp. will host the "Optical Modulators Market Trends Executive Forum" on October 9, sponsored by Fiber Systems International and PR@vantage, and will see Lynn Photonic Networks President and Co-Founder Michael Leigh as yet another speaker at its "Fourth Annual OADM & Advance Photonic Communication Networks Conference" on November 13. electronicAsia will open on October 11 in Hong Kong, organized by Messe Muenchen GmbH. Next year, the show will break out on its own, rather than be co-located with the Hongkong Electronics Fair and the Hongkong International Lighting Fair as it is now, due to its jump in size -- the show is up 29 percent since 1997. Slated are 515 exhibitors from 15 countries, an improvement over 2001's 506 exhibitors. Finally, the NEPCON West, Assembly West and Fiberoptic Automation Expo co-located trade event, taking place December 4 through 6, will feature several special events free to all attendees, including a keynote from ElectroniCast's Jeff Montgomery and from Michael Mace, chief competitive officer of PalmSource Inc.
- Lots of awards this week in the progress department: The Herndon, Va.-based NEMI gave awards to a project team and two individuals for their service to NEMI and to the electronics manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, a UK-based licensee of Phoenix-based Duraswitch, Dewhurst plc, was awarded the British Lift Industry Awards' (BLIA) "Best Product of the Year, 2002" award in the under-500-pound category for its Compact 2 Micro, which incorporates Duraswitch's PushGate pushbutton technology. In more award news, Washington, D.C.-based IMAPS announced two award winners among the exceptional papers presented at the recent IMAPS 2002 annual symposium in Denver. Finally, Rosslyn, Va.-based NEMA won the 2002 Web Marketing Association's (WMA) Outstanding Website Award for its relaunched Web site, joining the ranks of past winners including Disney Online, FedEx and British Airways.
- Partnerships are back: West Bridgewater, Mass.-based Chase EMS Group Chase EMS' Sunburst Division formed a strategic manufacturing partnership with Photronic Devices to manufacture their LCON4 series optical gain amplifier controllers, while similarly, Irvine, Calif.-based Newport Corp. and Burlington, Mass.-based EM4 Photonics signed a letter of intent regarding a strategic agreement to develop and refine photonics device manufacturing equipment and process solutions jointly, as well as establish an equipment supplier relationship between the two companies. In the same vein, LaFox, Ill.-based Richardson Electronics and Seattle-based Lightel Technologies signed an agreement to distribute Richardson's ultrasonic SCC-3100 connector cleaner. Finally, more news about Tecnomatix: Freidberg, Germany-based Marxer Anlagen und Maschinenbau GmbH placed an order of approximately US $225,000 for Tecnomatix's eMPower MPM products and services, to be used to plan, design and ramp-up processes for the Audi C6 car project.
- Two bits of personnel news this week: West Haven, Conn.-based Cookson Electronics PWB Materials and Chemistry appointed Gordon Tindle executive general manager of Enthone Ltd., United Kingdom, while Tyngsboro, Mass.-based X-Tek Systems appointed Paul Ramsay to the newly created position of sales and marketing manager with global responsibilities.
- Some bad financial news: St. Louis-based Viasystems Group Inc. filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to achieve final approval for the company's recapitalization. The company expects to keep operating normally. Coupled with Adept Technology's announcement last week that the company is downgrading guidance for the fiscal first quarter of 2003, as well as engaging an investment bank to explore strategic alternatives for the company, and this points to an ominous trend for the industry. Stay tuned.
- Finally, some survey news on a multitude of topics: Cleveland-based Keithley Instruments conducted a survey of engineers responsible for electronics measurement, which reports that new communications protocols such as Ethernet, long touted as a likely successor to the widely used GPIB and serial interfaces, are finally seeing widespread adoption. Another communications protocol, Bluetooth, on the other hand, is not seeing knowledge or familiarity among the U.S. general public, according to a recent survey by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based In-Stat/MDR. Finally, Norwalk, Conn.-based Business Communications Co. Inc. estimates $871.5 million worth of sputtering targets were consumed in 2001 to sputter-deposit 486.1 million sq. m of thin films for flat panel displays, magnetic and optical storage devices, wavelength-selective coatings on glass, and semiconductor chips. The market for sputtering targets should reach nearly $1.8 billion by 2006, according to the survey.
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.