Circuits Assembly - October 2008 - (Page 10)

NEWS In Brief EE Technologies Inc. (eetechinc.com) purchased a Vitronics Soltec (vitronics. com) Delta 5 wave soldering system. Cookson Electronics’ (cooksonelectronics.com) Apodaca Nuevo León Monterrey, Mexico, manufacturing facility received ISO 9001:2000 and ISO 14001:2004 certifications. The company expects to certify to OHSAS 18001:2007 in early 2009 or sooner. Catalyst Manufacturing Services (catalyst.ems.com) has standardized on Aegis’ (aiscorp.com) Software Operations Planning, Execution, and Analysis system across its multi-factory enterprise. Teknek (teknek.com) named InterLatin (interlatin.com.mx) as its distributor in Mexico for its contact cleaning equipment. MPC (mpccorp.com) will lay off 5% of its nationwide workforce and transfer some manufacturing to Flextronics (flextronics. com) in Juarez, Mexico, according to published reports. Most of the jobs are in IT and sales, KTIV reported. MPC acquired certain elements of Gateway’s computer business last year and is one of the 10 largest PC manufacturers. TXP Corp. (txpcorp.com) and Cambridge Industry Group (cambridgegrp. com) have signed a memorandum to merge. The merger reportedly would form the world's largest ODM and services business focused on fiber-to-the-home equipment. TXP generated approximately $11 million in revenue in 2007. CIG generated approximately $10.2 million in revenue, up 81% compared to 2006. The merger is expected to close before year-end. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Vitronics Soltec (vitronics.com) named Production Automation Corp. (gotopac. com) its manufacturer’s representatives for wave, reflow, and selective soldering systems in Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and northwestern Wisconsin. Industry Edited by Mike Buetow Customers are surveyed to determine a participating company’s level of customer satisfaction in various categories, including dependability/timely delivery; ease of use; manufacturing quality; responsiveness to requests and changes; technology, and value for the price. All customer responses and ratings are tabulated by a third party and provided in a confidential report to the participating company. The SEAs recognize four categories of EMS providers based on revenues (under $20 million; $20 million to $100 million; $101 million to $500 million, and over $500 million) and the following categories of suppliers: automation and handling equipment; cleaning processing or materials; device programming equipment; dispensing; pick-and-place; repair and rework; screen printing; test and inspection; materials (solder paste); soldering equipment, and manufacturing or supply chain management software. CirCuits Assembly will honor winners during the Apex trade show on March 30, 2009. Proceeds from the program help fund the SMTA’s Charles Hutchins Educational Grant. CirCuits Assembly has donated some $50,000 to the grant. For more information, visit circuitsassembly.com/sea. The deadline to enter is Nov. 21. – Chelsey Drysdale Plexus Expanding to Hangzhou NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. (plexus.com) has signed a deal to lease approximately 106,000 sq. ft. in the Binjiang Hi-Tech Park located in Hangzhou, China. Production is expected to begin late in the first quarter of fiscal 2009. The company did not disclose the value of the investment or other details. The location will be the third for Plexus in Asia, adding to the current footprint in Xiamen, China, and Penang, Malaysia. When finished, Plexus' total footprint in Asia will be approximately 948,000 sq. ft. In a press release, regional president - Plexus Asia Pacific Y.J. Lim said, “Proximity to customers and the supply chain in the greater Shanghai area will support our growth prospects in this region. It will also provide us with greater opportunity to tap into the broad availability of technical talent from the strong education system in the Hangzhou area, setting the stage for future growth in our engineering services offering.” Catalyst Starts Up 2d Tijuana Plant TIJUANA, MEXICO – Catalyst Manufacturing Services (catalyst.ems.com) has opened an 80,000 sq. ft. facility in Tijuana, its second here, the company said. The site features two SMT lines and 60,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing space. The EMS company also operates an 80,000 sq. ft. plant in Tijuana, and facilities in Endicott, NY (the former Ramp Industries), and Morrisville, NC. – Mike Buetow People Inovaxe Corp. named Ron Wrable director of sales, responsible for sales and channel management within the North Americas. He has 25 years’ experience in sales and sales management within the electronics industry, most recently as regional sales manager for Kyzen and CyberOptics. R&D Circuits named Kena Pegram West Coast regional sales manager. Finetech named Scott Kentner applications engineer. EMS provider Kitron AS named Dag Songedal Day managing director. He was previously vice president at Norsafe AS, and was CFO for Sonec ASA. Krayden Inc. named Sergio Romero industrial engineer, responsible for the El Paso, Chihuahua, Juarez and Torreon territories, and David Ayala sales representative for Monterrey, San Luis Potosi and Saltillo. Indium named Thomas Tong Boon Hwa (pictured) technical support manager, Asia-Pacific Region. He has 20 years’ experience in SMT, semiconductor and solar. The company named as area sales managers, Asia/Pacific Ricky A. Canlas, Winston Chew and Park Tae Hyun, and promoted Andy Seager to sales channel partner manager. 10 Circuits Assembly OCTOBER 2008 circuitsassembly.com http://www.eetechinc.com http://www.vitronics.com http://www.vitronics.com http://www.cooksonelectronics.com http://www.cooksonelectronics.com http://www.circuitsassembly.com/sea http://catalystems.com http://www.plexus.com http://www.aiscorp.com http://www.teknek.com http://www.interlatin.com.mx http://www.mpccorp.com http://www.flextronics.com http://www.flextronics.com http://www.catalystems.com http://www.txpcorp.com http://www.cambridgegrp.com http://www.cambridgegrp.com http://www.vitronics.com http://gotopac.com http://gotopac.com http://www.circuitsassembly.com

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

Circuits Assembly - September 2008 Contents Letters Caveat Lector Industry News Market Watch Talking Heads Global Sourcing Screen Printing Better Manufacturing 'Checking Up' on Medical Electronics Solder Ball Attachment Using Laser Soldering Improving QFN Reliability Reflow Soldering Tech Tips Test and Inspection Process Doctor Pb-Free Lessons Learned Alternative Energies Eastern Advances Product Spotlight Ad Index Assembly Insider Technical Abstracts

Circuits Assembly - October 2008

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