Circuits Assembly - March 2008 - (Page 12)

NEWS In Brief EMS firm Inovar (inovar-inc.com) purchased a SPEA (spea.com) 4040 Multimode flying probe tester. Sanmina-SCI (sanminasci.com) has signed a definitive agreement with Foxteq Holdings (a subsidiary of Foxconn Technology) to sell certain assets of its PC business, the company said today. Sanmina expects to net $80 million to $90 million on the sale, which is expected to close during the June quarter. Separately, Sanmina-SCI said it has entered into a memorandum of understanding with Lenovo (lenovo.com) to sell its Monterrey, Mexico, manufacturing facilities and other assets. The PC asset sale, which Sanmina-SCI officers announced in November 2006, is expected to reap $200 million in financial benefits. The company decided to cut ties with the business unit – a legacy of SCI – as it was no longer core to its long-term strategy. The PC business generated $3.3B billion in sales in fiscal 2007, or roughly 31% of total sales. Its three primary customers are HP, IBM and Lenovo. Foxconn (fih-foxconn.com) is reportedly discussing the acquisition of a plant in central Bohemia. Jim Chang, Foxconn’s head in the Czech Republic, said the issue should be resolved shortly, according to published reports. Because of time pressures, Foxconn reportedly wants to purchase a plant already in operation. Chang would not disclose the name of the plant, but said it did not have to be large, and added Foxconn’s takeover would include employees. EMS provider Brantham Engineering (brantham.com) added a 4,500 sq. ft. facility for raw materials and component storage. The addition brings the company's total manufacturing space to more than 41,000 sq. ft. Industry Edited by Mike Buetow Asteel Continues Acquisition Spree PARIS – Asteel (asteel.fr) continued its buying spree, announcing in February the acquisition of MRP Electronics PLC, a UK-based EMS company. Financial and other terms were not announced. MRP (mrpplc.co.uk) had 2007 sales of 12 million pounds ($23 million), according to published reports. It operates a 30,000 sq. ft. plant in Bedford, UK. As reported by CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY in December, Asteel’s acquisition of Flash Electronics created a $750 million EMS firm with 18 manufacturing sites and more than one million sq. ft. of factory space worldwide, plus a subsidiary in Romania. Asteel is privately held and headquartered in Paris. “This acquisition could not have come at a better time, as some of our larger customers were considering taking their high-volume work to the Far East,” MRP managing director Mike Perry said in published reports. “Now they can keep their MRP contacts – even for high-volume production.” – Mike Buetow Note Acquires Proqual; Says 124 Layoffs in Sweden STOCKHOLM – EMS firm Note AB (note.se) will acquire Gloucestershire, U.K.-based EMS company Proqual, the companies announced in January. No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed. Proqual specializes in prototype and small-run production. The company has annual sales of 45 million kronos ($6.9 million) and 40 employees. Note also announced the sacking of 124 employees in Sweden, as the company moves production to recently opened plants in China and Poland from its plants in Skellefteå, Norrtälje, Skänninge and Lund. “We increased our production capacity further last autumn by starting up joint venture plants with Philippine EMS provider Ionics EMS in China and Fideltronik in Poland,” said Arne Forslund, CEO and president. Note had 2006 sales of 1.74 million kronos, and employs 1,200 worldwide. – Chelsey Drysdale Are DNA-based Electronics Next? NETANYA, ISRAEL – A host of international universities have teamed on a $3-million effort to develop DNA-based self-organizing molecular electronics. With support from the EU, Tel-Aviv University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Regensburg University, Madrid University and the Lausanne School of Technology share a goal to create a prototype electronic component based on a single DNA molecule, and achieve DNA-based nanodevices based on the group’s previous realization of nanowires. The project’s cost is estimated at about $3 million and is scheduled to end in April 2009. “We expect to realize a device-wire with a controlled nonlinear response, either bi-stability or negative differential resistance, at the end of the project,” the researchers said, according to published reports. The DNA-based nanoelectronic devices would be about 1000 times smaller than existing electronics, the report said. – Mike Buetow Report: Salaries in PCB and EMS Industries Increasing BANNOCKBURN, IL – Hourly wages in the U.S. and Canadian PCB industries rose modestly in 2006, up 3.3% year-over-year, while salary budgets rose an estimated 3% from 2006 to 2007. That’s according to IPC’s biennial look at wages and salaries for EMS companies. The trade group (ipc.org) published its findings in late January. According to the study, on average, U.S. and Canadian EMS organizational salary budgets for salaried positions increased 3.1% in 2007. Salary budgets for management positions increased 3.9%, while hourly positions increased 3.3%. Benefit costs in 2006 were, on average, 16.8% of total wages, down from 21.6% in 2004. The EMS industry salary and wage report presents aggregate data on 30 positions and their related job descriptions. – Chelsey Drysdale circuitsassembly.com 12 Circuits Assembly MARCH 2008 http://www.asteel.fr http://inovar-inc.com http://www.spea.com http://www.mrpplc.co.uk http://sanminasci.com http://note.se http://lenovo.com http://www.fih-foxconn.com http://ipc.org http://www.brantham.com http://circuitsassembly.com

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Circuits Assembly - March 2008 Caveat Lector Letters Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business On the Forefront Screen Printing What Drives the Crowd? Mastering ESD Control in Automated Handling Systems Beating the RoHS Heat Trade Secrets True to Its Roots The Road Abroad - Strategic Alliance or Greenfield Facility? Tech Tips Wave Soldering Test and Inspection Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Getting Lean Materials World Equipment Advances Apex Product Preview Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - March 2008

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