Universal also said it would realign to focus on its core market of surface mount and insertion mount electronics assembly.

A new business unit called Unovis will be formed, and will include Universal’s Advanced Semiconductor Assembly, Odd Form Assembly and SMT Laboratory divisions and Hover-Davis' direct feeder business. Unovis will be headed by Roland Heitmann and staffed by more than 100 employees.

Universal Instruments president Jeroen Schmits said, “Our changing business model and our ambition to grow Universal’s global market share through absolute focus on our key sector means that partnering with a company that appreciates and accepts the cyclical market environments in which we operate is the right decision for Universal. We will continue our intense development schedule and manufacturing facilities in Binghamton, New York, and in Shekou, China.  We will soon be announcing new platform equipment configurations that will see us surpass our global competitors in high speed, flexible surface mount manufacturing.”