Circuits Assembly - July 2008 - (Page 16)

NEWS People Flextronics promoted executive vice president of finance for worldwide operations Paul Read to CFO, replacing Thomas J. Smach, who resigned. Read has held a variety of financial roles with the company since 1995, and was the lead executive responsible for integrating Solectron. Ofer Shofman, president, chief executive of Valor Computerized Systems, is retiring. CFO Dan Hoz has been named acting president and CEO. Shofman cofounded Valor 15 years ago and has been president and CEO for six years. Photo Stencil named Dr. James F. Reilly, II vice president of research and development, a new position. He is a veteran of the US Navy and NASA, and flew Space ! Shuttle missions in 1998, 2001 and 2007, where he performed five spacewalks totaling more than 30 hours. He has a Ph.D. in geosciences from the University of Texas at Dallas. VJ Electronix named Ronald Lindell as director of global sales and marketing. He was previously North American and global sales manager for Teradyne’s Assembly Test Division, and has 25 years’ experience in electronics assembly and industrial capital equipment with GenRad, Nicolet Imaging Systems, Gould, and Tonka. Indium Corp. named Greg Hayes to Southeastern USA regional sales manager, responsible for soldering product sales. He will focus on developing, implementing and monitoring sales goals and metrics, and work with regional sales teams and representatives in his region. He has 15 years’ experience in soldering materials sales. Industry US, Japan File WTO Complaint Against EU GENEVA – The US and Japan in May filed complaints with the World Trade Organization over tariffs the European Union imposes on certain electronics devices. The EU says at least three new technology products fall outside the 1996 Information Technology Agreement to eliminate duties worldwide; the US Trade Representative’s office says the original agreement is being undermined. The contested products include computer monitors, cable converter boxes and printers. US Trade Representative Susan Schwab advises the EU to permanently abolish new duties and cease controlling tariffs to deter technological advances, say published reports. The original accord eliminates tariffs on high-tech products among the largest makers and consumers of electronic goods, saving producers $5 billion annually, according to the Consumer Electronics Association (cea.org). In a statement, the EU’s executive European Commission “strongly rejects” the US and Japanese complaints, and says it is “willing to reassess the current ITA product coverage to reflect new technology in a negotiation with all ITA signatories. However, the US refuses to do this.” The US is required to file a request for consultations at the WTO first, and then could ask for a panel to judge the complaint after 60 days. – Chelsey Drysdale Optimism, New Orders Common at JPCA/Protec TOYKO – The JPCA Show is typically not one where many orders are placed on the floor. Rather, specifications are discussed, tires on equipment are kicked, materials are introduced, and the exhibition of evolutionary progressions is the norm. And yet, equipment suppliers were in many cases optimistic. In fact, the annual trade show and gathering of technologists, managers, suppliers, fabricators, EMS providers and OEMs at Tokyo Big Sight was again a resounding success. Attendance was steady with last year, but with the addition of the Protec assembly show to the traditional PCB fabrication wares, it is obvious that companies are sending fewer, but perhaps more, key personnel. The Protec side of the exhibition was very busy and represented an excellent opportunity to investigate performance, price and process compatibility. In inspection, it seems the number of vendors continues to increase, while there are rumblings of consolidation in the pick-and-place market. Maintaining profitability is the key, and with more competition this becomes more difficult. In materials, the rose-colored glasses on users’ noses continue to interfere with a realistic assessment of true market conditions. Increases in the cost of key raw materials of 20, 30, 50, even 200%, while process materials and component prices remain stable are but a temporary panacea as the supply base struggles for market share. Fundamental economic realities dictate that this will continue only so long before there is a major crash in the supply base and a shift in the power equation to fewer suppliers, which are able to enforce a pricing structure that permits profitability and that attracts the returns on investment necessary for a healthy industry. A number of discussions centered on effects of EU’s REACH environmental regulations and the manner in which they are implemented. Exclusionary policies in the decision-making process by the European Union, as well as some of the decisions made so far by the EC, have chemists, industrial environmental managers, technologists and managers at the highest levels either scratching their heads or in simmering revolt. The question on many minds is, Is politics trumping the scientific method and good engineering practices? The embedded components arena continues to expand with applications entering wider use, and as processes for passive and active embedded devices and chip sets are refined, this will build the knowledge base that allows more widespread demand. Several OEMs in test and inspection, wireless applications, base stations, and other applications are playing close attention. The progression from digital watches to wireless handsets to more sophisticated applications is inexorable. In North America, much work is being done in the military and aerospace arenas, where visibility is purposely limited. – Special to CirCuits Assembly by Matthew Holzmann, president of Christopher Associates 16 Circuits Assembly JULY 2008 circuitsassembly.com http://cea.org http://circuitsassembly.com

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

Circuits Assembly - July 2008 Contents Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Focus on Business Global Sourcing On the Forefront Screen Printing Tech Tips Will Electronics Follow the Sun? ‘Warm’ Manufacturing Heats Up Reputation Trumps Recession, China ‘Web Circuits’ A Novel Non-VOC Conformal Coating Krypton: Benchmarking Customer Satisfaction 2008-09 CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY Buyers Guide Wave Soldering Pb-Free Lessons Learned Process Doctor Materials World SMTA Int'l Product Preview Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - July 2008

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