Circuits Assembly - February 2008 - (Page 14)

NEWS People AIM Solder named Armando Torres regional sales manager, Central-South Mexico. He is a chemical engineer with 11 years’ experience in soldering technologies. EMS firm Winland Electronics named chairman Thomas J. de Petra interim CEO and president, succeeding Lorin Krueger, who retired. Indium Corp. promoted Eric Slezak (pictured, top) to director of Assembly Products; Ray Altieri (pictured, bottom) to manager, Solder Products; Leo Devine to global accounts manager, and Tim Jensen to product manager, Solder Products. All are veterans of the solder materials company. Zestron America named Cesar Gazcon Mexico sales manager. He has 15 years’ experience in electronics manufacturing, most recently as area sales manager with PAC South Mexico, and also as a process engineer with Lucent Technologies and Flextronics. EMS provider CirTran Corp. named David L. Harmon chief financial officer. iNEMI named Grace O’Malley manager of operations-Europe. A former manager of Motorola’s Advanced Technology Center in Brazil, she has a master’s in materials and manufacturing engineering and holds eight U.S. patents. PDR appointed Frederic Renard regional sales manager for Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. Syncro Corp. named Roger Allcorn senior project engineer-RF Products. EPIC Technologies named David Brakenwagen vice president of new business development, responsible for sales and marketing, identifying prospective customers and winning new business opportunities. He was vice president of sales at Solectron, and also worked for Vishay. “While Congress recently passed and President Bush signed the ‘America COMPETES Act,’ these actions mean little without an actual appropriation to fund the programs it authorizes. Current spending bills drastically shortchange research funding for the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Standards and Technology and the Department of Energy,” Scalise said. NSF and NIST both play critical roles in the Nanoelectronics Research Initiative, which supports cutting-edge basic research in collaboration with industry and universities. – Mike Buetow Industry Flextronics, Solectron Sued Over OT Pay SAN FRANCISCO – Flextronics (flextronics.com) and Solectron (solectron.com) are being sued for allegedly violating federal and state labor laws governing overtime pay. The suit alleges the EMS companies paid employees by their shift time, rather than for time actually worked. The lawsuit seeks damages related to violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act and other state laws. The lawsuit was brought by four assembly, repair and technician employees who worked for the defendants in California, North Carolina and Kentucky. The suit was filed Dec. 19 by the law firm of Nichols, Kaster & Anderson on behalf of current and former employees of Flextronics International USA Inc. and Solectron Corp. Flextronics’ acquisition of Solectron closed in September. According to a press release, the lawsuit alleges Flextronics and Solectron violated the federal FLSA and corresponding state laws by paying employees by their shift time, rather than the time actually worked. The suit also alleges the defendants did not compensate employees for the time they spent putting on and taking off protective gear such as smocks, wrist straps and ankles straps, and the time employees spent going through ESD testing. – Mike Buetow Volume Techniques Coming to Printed Electronics NEW YORK – Printed electronics hold the potential to be a game-changer in a wide variety of end markets, according to a new study from ABI Research (abiresearch.com). Innovative printing techniques have the capability to facilitate high-volume, low-cost electronics components manufacturing, which will enable applications not previously addressable with traditional techniques. While this market is currently in its infancy, ABI forecasts printed electronics will see very high growth rates through 2012. “For many end-markets, the first products are becoming commercially available now, and market realization will be dictated by fulfillment of the promise of printing capabilities at a very low price point,“ says research director Michael Liard. “It will take some time before printing and cost are optimized and this will certainly vary from market segment to segment in terms of what customers will accept.” The greatest penetration by printing technologies has been in displays and lighting for portable electronics, ABI says. Many technologies under development are not quite ready for prime time and initial applications are targeting niche markets. – Chelsey Drysdale Latvian EMS Firm in Buying Mood ORGE, LATVIA – Hanzas Elektronika (hansa-electronics.lv), Latvia’s largest EMS company, acquired Elektromekan i Årjäng AB on Nov. 30. Elektromekan is Sweden’s fifth largest EMS firm. HE is owned by the Baltic SME Fund. The company claims sales of 7.3 million euros in 2006, and says the deal will push 2007 revenues to 33 million euros. – Mike Buetow PCB Austin to Debut in March SMYRNA, GA – PCB Austin, a new three-day technical conference, will be held March 4-6, in the Austin suburbs. The new show, produced by UP Media Group, is located in nearby Round Rock, 20 minutes from downtown Austin. PCB Austin will include three days of targeted conference courses from industry experts, one day of tabletop exhibits, and various networking events. For more information, visit pcbshows.com/austin. – Chelsey Drysdale circuitsassembly.com 14 Circuits Assembly FEBRUARY 2008 http://www.solectron.com http://flextronics.com http://abiresearch.com http://hansa-electronics.lv http://pcbshows.com/austin http://circuitsassembly.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Circuits Assembly - February 2008

Circuits Assembly - February 2008 Contents Caveat Lector Letters Industry News Market Watch Global Sourcing Better Manufacturing Maximizing Lean Copper As a Viable Solution for IC Packaging Embedded Active Components for High-Rel Products Cover Story: XRF Equipment As a RoHS Screening Tool Tech Tips Selective Soldering Test and Inspection Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - February 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.