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CM News
December 31, 1969 |Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
IBM VP Moves to SolectronMILPITAS, Calif. Solectron Corp. appointed long-time IBM executive George W. Moore to corporate vice president and president of Solectron Americas. In this role, Moore will be responsible for manufacturing operations in the company's largest geographic region, spanning North and South America. He fills a post that has been handled since April on an interim basis by Walt Wilson, senior vice president, business integration and information technology.
"We are delighted to welcome George Moore to Solectron," said Saeed Zohouri, senior vice president and COO. "His impressive blend of strategic thinking, operating experience, technology know-how and leadership skills will further strengthen our team."
Most recently, Moore was IBM's vice president of corporate manufacturing staff.
New President & CEO for GroupTechTAMPA, Fla. Group Technologies Corp. (GroupTech), a subsidiary of Sypris Solutions Inc., promoted James G. Cocke to president and CEO. Cocke served as the company's vice president of finance, contracts and program management since March 1997. He replaces Thomas W. Lovelock, who resigned to pursue another career opportunity.
"Jim has a thorough understanding of our markets, customers and the electronics industry as a whole, and we believe he has demonstrated capabilities and skills required to lead GroupTech forward to even higher levels of success," said Jeffrey T. Gill, president and CEO of Sypris. "We have achieved outstanding momentum in building strong working relationships with major industrial, aerospace and defense firms. Jim has played an integral role in the development and implementation of the company's strategy that has resulted in a record backlog for this portion of our business, and we are excited about the prospects of sustaining this progress."
Cocke was an executive with the Bell Technologies subsidiary of Sypris from 1995 until joining GroupTech in 1997.
Irish Manufacturing CommencesDUBLIN, Ireland MV Technology Ltd. (MVT) appointed Keytech Ltd. as its manufacturing partner in Limerick, Ireland. The partnership is designed to enhance the company's product turnaround time, manufacturing capacity and speed-to-market for new technologies. Keytech has manufacturing facilities in Limerick, Malaysia and the United States.
"We are very confident that we can offer our customers an enhanced level of service by shipping more systems to more customers in a shorter period of time," said Joe O'Keeffe, COO of MVT. "This expansion of our production capabilities further endorses our strategy of world-class and [just-in-time] manufacturing."
Both MVT's Dublin facility and Keytech's Limerick plant will produce the entire line of MVT's automated optical inspection (AOI) products, reportedly to satisfy the growing demand from OEMs and CMs worldwide.
SCI Purchases Israeli FacilityTEL AVIV, Israel SCI Systems Inc. and Telrad Networks Ltd. signed agreements for the sale of Telrad's Ma'alot, Israel, facility and for a multi-year supply of more than $500 million of Telrad's products. The manufacturing plant will be purchased by SCI Israel EMS Ltd., an Israeli subsidiary of SCI. It produces PCB assemblies and other products for Telrad and Nortel Networks.
"SCI is pleased to be selected as the manufacturing partner of Telrad," said Gene Sapp, chairman and CEO of SCI. "This second strategic Israeli acquisition solidifies our position as a leading [EMS] provider in the growing market there. Telrad will also become an important contributor to SCI's accelerating growth in telecommunication activities."
Yona Eliad, Telrad's vice president of operations, commented, "We are happy that SCI ... views the State of Israel as a basis for operations in the electronics manufacturing field, and has decided to establish its operations in Israel for the long term and to consider expanding its operations further in the Israeli marketplace."
In other company news, SCI reached a multimillion-dollar agreement with Orbotech Ltd. for multiple Trion-2340 Series AOI systems, which the company will use for post-paste and post-reflow inspection. SCI will take delivery of the systems over a period of 12 to 18 months.
Organizational OverhaulHUDSON, Mass. ACT Manufacturing Inc. announced a new organizational structure in support of its position as a global provider of high-tech CM solutions. Along with this announcement, ACT appointed Jack O'Rear to executive vice president of operations for the Americas and Blaise Scioli to executive vice president of global marketing and business development. The company also recently appointed Robert Zinn to executive vice president of European and Asian Pacific operations.
More appointments accompanying the announcement included: Gary Barnier as senior vice president of operations in the Americas, Massachusetts and California facilities; Mike Driste as senior vice president of operations in the Americas, Georgia, Mississippi and Mexico facilities; and Jim Menges as senior vice president of operations for Asia.
"This new organizational structure will bring leadership and focus to the continued growth of ACT's global operations and business development efforts," said John A. Pino, president, CEO and chairman of ACT. "The management team is strong in terms of time and experience in the industry as well as dedication to the principles of this company, which makes them ideally suited for these roles. ACT is a company dedicated to meeting the needs of its customers. These appointments ensure that the company can continue to serve as a global, valued partner to all its customers."
Supply Chain Awards PresentedTORONTO Celestica Inc. announced the recipients of its Partners in Performance awards, given in recognition of outstanding achievements and support of the company's supply chain management strategy. The company awarded OEMs in the telecom and semiconductor sectors.
This year's winners were: Aavid Thermalloy LLC, Agilent Technologies, AVX Corp., Cypress Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, Hadco, Kemet Electronics, KOA Corp., On Semiconductor, Philips Semiconductors, Quantum Corp., ROHM Electronics, Siemens and Yamamoto.
"Through their dedication, quality and leadership, all of this year's recipients have contributed to Celestica's ability to attain its goal of being the partner of choice in [EMS]," said Eugene Polistuk, president and CEO of Celestica. "Each of these companies demonstrates a shared commitment to delivering competitive advantage to Celestica's customers through industry-leading supply chain management."
Criteria for the awards include: flexibility and responsiveness, impact on asset management, effectiveness and efficiency, and overall supplier performance.
Wireless Telemetry to be ManufacturedNEENAH, Wis. Plexus Corp. was selected by Telemetrix Technologies Inc. as the engineering and manufacturing services provider for the company's T3000 data collection telemetry. Plexus DesignCenters will be responsible for design and test development; new product introduction (NPI) PlusCenters will support prototyping and pre-production volumes of the program; and ManufacturingCenters will handle volume, PCB assembly and box-build requirements.
T3000 technology enables personal communications systems (PCS) wireless carriers to provide broad ranging telemetry services over their digital communications systems without affecting voice or data capability or capacity. Telemonitoring and telecommunications services include remote automatic utility meter reading; home health, fire and burglar alarm monitoring; household condition monitoring; and remote monitoring of vending machines to determine inventory, temperature, money in the coin box and vandalism.
Michael Verstegen, executive vice president of Plexus, commented, "This program is a strong fit with our strategic focus on the wireless telecom network market, and by partnering with Telemetrix in the development and production of this advanced product line, we plan to enhance our leadership position in this high-growth market segment."
Sanmina Announces AdvancementsSAN JOSE, Calif. Sanmina Corp. recently made two announcements. First, the company completed its merger with Hadco Corp., a manufacturer of advanced electronic interconnect products in North America. As a result, Hadco is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Sanmina.
"We are very excited about this merger, as we believe it will provide us with a dynamic platform for continued rapid growth," said June Sola, chairman and CEO of Sanmina. "The combined company offers customers a number of advantages, including cost-effective new product development capabilities, increased advanced circuit fabrication technology and capacity, and the addition of a talented workforce."
Sanmina also completed its acquisition of certain electronics computer-aided design (ECAD), electronics systems packaging design (ESP) and product integrity (IP) operations from Nortel Networks. The agreement includes a multi-year design services and supply contract with Nortel.
Dr. Sundar M. Kamath, Sanmina's vice president of advanced technology (EMS), said, "In addition to expanding our ongoing relationship with Nortel, this transaction completes one of the key elements in the formation of our Global Technology Solutions Group. We created this division to meet our customers increasing demands for both cost-effective advanced technology and an integrated approach to manufacturing."
Fast-growing LWG RecognizedBEAVERTON, Ore. Laughlin-Wilt Group (LWG) Inc. was named one of the 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies by The Business Journal of Portland and Pricewaterhouse Coopers. The Private 100 is a ranking of the 100 fastest growing private companies in the Portland area based on the growth percentage in revenues from 1997 to 1999. LWG's 58 percent increase resulted in an overall rank of 77.
"Our focus is to be the premier supplier to emerging and growth-oriented electronic hardware companies on the West Coast," said Joe Laughlin, LWG president and CEO. "We help these companies successfully transition through all the different stages of development and sustained growth. Our listing ... is a tribute to our customers."
Quarterly Forum Tracks Industry EvolutionALAMEDA, Calif. Technology Forecasters Inc. (TFI) launched a new interactive service and report, the Quarterly Forum for Electronics Manufacturing Outsourcing and Supply Chain. Forum members include capital equipment companies and OEMs that outsource; supply chain members such as semiconductor, distributors and printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturers; software companies; investors; and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers.
"Our [forum] covers over a year all pertinent data and insights from our industry bible, Contract Manufacturing from a Global Perspective," said TFI president Pamela J. Gordon, "but it's more interactive and our clients don't have to wait two years for an update. Also, the Quarterly Forum is more affordable for a wider range of companies."
The first issue of the report, and the basis for the first Web conference, cover evaluations of small-, medium- and large-sized contract manufacturers' (CM) strategies; forecasts for market size by industry segment; recommendations for mergers and acquisitions; supply chain optimization; employee and customer retention; marketing; information and automation tools; and the latest outsourcing strategies. Clients also receive access to TFI's consultants, database, and other reports and services.
According to Quentin Price of Agilent Technologies, the founding client of the report, "[We look] forward to participating in the new TFI Quarterly Forum as a venue to keep OEM, EMS and test system suppliers apprised of the latest activities and trends in manufacturing. [We need] to be at the forefront of understanding customer requirements and be able to openly discuss future solutions with the industry."
CM NewsmakersManufacturers' Services Ltd., Concord, Mass., appointed Sam Landol the company's first president of Americas operations. Landol will direct the company's sales and manufacturing operations throughout North America and play a critical role in expansion into key markets in Latin America.