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KELSO, SCOTLAND – Plexus UK has invested nearly $1.6 million in equipment for its Kelso manufacturing site.

The investment includes two Electrovert Elektra wave solder machines and an Agilent Medalist x6000 3-D AXI.

“2007 was a year of growth and expansion for Plexus, with the extension of the design center in Livingston and the addition of staff at all levels throughout the organization,” said managing director Willie MacKinnon.

He added that recent funding from Scottish Enterprise will enable further investments.

HORSHAM, PA – Aegis Software Corp., developer of manufacturing execution software, announced the opening of its global headquarters in Horsham, PA, outside Philadelphia.

The offices will provide a training environment for the company’s growing customer base. Featured is the company’s interactive training center. This facility offers a hands-on approach using a conveyorized production line, test and quality cell, and a complete hand assembly line, simulating a real production environment.

The facility also includes a large meeting center with video conferencing; new customers are provided a video system for use in their factories.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – Mobile handset shipments growth by manufacturers headquartered in China will slow considerably in 2008, dropping to about 19.7%, says iSuppli Corp.

The research firm forecasts shipments of 274 million units, up from 229 million units last year, when shipments gained 76.2%.

“There were two major drivers for the fast growth in China’s handset industry during 2007,” said Kevin Wang, senior analyst, China research for iSuppli.

“One was the continuous increase in domestic demand from first-time buyers and the replacement market. The other factor was the significant increase in export shipments from Chinese handset manufacturers. Domestic OEMs, such as Huawei and ZTE, doubled their export shipments. Furthermore, domestic gray market suppliers shipped millions of handsets to developing countries.”

Last year, the domestic Chinese handset market totaled about 200 million units, consisting of 150 million licensed handset units and about 50 million gray-market handsets.

Sustained increases in the consumer price index, rising housing prices and major stock market fluctuations in China are expected to hurt consumer confidence in 2008. Except for handsets supporting GPS and mobile TV functionality, there are no popular new handset features to drive sales. Because of higher average selling prices, iSuppli expects GPS and mobile-TV equipped phones will remain niche consumer products for now.

Consequently, the replacement market will experience limited growth during 2008, restraining increases in shipments in 2008.

However, iSuppli anticipates sales of handsets supporting TD-SCDMA and EDGE will ramp up quickly in 2008 as they become more widely available.

SAN JOSE, CA – Eight high-tech industry associations have proposed a stimulus package for the slowing American economy. The associations include SEMI, TechNet, Information Technology Industry Council, AeA and the Semiconductor Industry Association.

PEMBROKE, BERMUDA – Tyco Electronics Ltd., maker of passive components and electronics for telecommunication systems, said fiscal first-quarter net income was $949 million, up 70.4% year-over-year.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Between 2006 and 2011, unit shipments of integrated circuits used in RFID applications will increase at a CAGR of 63% per year and exceed 26.1 billion devices worldwide in 2011, according to IC Insights.

Radio-frequency identification products continue to show strong growth as RFID technologies take hold in more applications worldwide, the research firm says.

Growing concerns about national security and personal-identity theft along with ongoing efforts to improve inventory tracking and logistics in business sectors are sharply driving use of RFID transponders and contact-less smartcards that employ RFID links, according to a recent IC Insights report.

Smartcard IC volumes are expected to rise at a CAGR of more than 21% in the forecast period and reach 4.9 billion units in 2011.

Revenues for ICs in RFID applications (including RF ICs and logic devices for tag readers and scanners) are forecast to reach $2.3 billion in 2011, compared to $790 million in 2007, a CAGR of 32% per year.

RFID IC sales are forecast to exceed $1 billion for the first time in 2009. Meanwhile, smartcard IC sales are expected to grow from about $4.1 billion in 2007 to $5.6 billion in 2011, which represents a CAGR of 9%.

Steady advancements in miniaturization, cost cuts, and greater transmission efficiencies have enabled RFID transponders (or tags) to overcome most technical hurdles, while standards in systems and software implementations have encouraged greater adoption of the technology as a replacement for printed barcodes and traditional paperwork, says the research firm.

The RFID market is getting a boost from governments programs aimed at replacing conventional paper passports and plastic ID cards with electronic passports and smartcards that use contactless chip technologies. More than 50 governments worldwide are now aggressively pursuing e-passport and ID initiatives. The U.S. Passport Agency, for example, expects to complete the phase-in of wireless RFID-based passports during the next 10 years. IC Insights believes the sale of transponders for "e-passports" and national ID programs could reach $500 million by 2011.

PARIS – Asteel continued its buying spree, today announcing the acquisition of MRP Electronics PLC, a UK-based EMS company. Financial and other terms were not announced.

MRP had reported 2007 sales of 12 million pounds, according to published accounts. It operates a 30,000 sq. ft. plant in Bedford, UK.

As previously reported by Circuits Assembly, Asteel's planned acquisition of Flash Electronics creates 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.”

MALVERN, PA – Vishay Intertechnology’s fourth-quarter profits fell 81% year-over-year on one-time costs; the company earned $4.9 million.

Revenue rose to $729.6 million for the quarter, up nearly 13% year-over-year.

The company reported restructuring and severance costs of $40.2 million.

For the year, profits fell 6.4% to $130.7 million year-over-year. Revenue rose to $2.83 billion, up 8.8% compared to 2006.

JASPER, IN – Kimball International today reported net sales of $347.8 million and income from continuing operations of $4.2 million for its fiscal 2008 second quarter.

ANGLETON, TX – Benchmark Electronics reported quarterly profits fell 24% on a 3% drop in sales for the period ended Dec. 31.

HERNDON, VA – iNEMI has scheduled a workshop looking RFID tags at the item level.

The workshop will be held Feb. 21 in Boston, co-located with the RFID Smart Labels USA 2008 conference.

iNEMI’s Item-Level Tag Roadmap attempts to identify the critical technologies and business processes that must be improved to drive adoption of RFID at the item level. This workshop will offer the first opportunity for a broader industry review of the draft document, and will be used to solicit input to, and feedback on, the work done to date.

In particular, the iNEMI RFID team will be looking for feedback on primary barriers (both strategic and tactical) limiting adoption; projected future improvements in key technical and business attributes, and industry efforts recommended to close gaps and accelerate deployment.

Registration is free and conference registration is not required.

To register, visit
http://www.inemi.org/cms/calendar/RFID-ILT_RM_Workshop_Feb_08.html.

SINGAPORE – Surface Mount Technology Holdings reported third-quarter revenue was HK$755.6 million, up 19.6% year-over-year. Net loss was HK$3.3 million, down from a profit of HK$10.2 million a year ago.