NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- BTU International Inc. has decided on Shanghai as its new Asia-Pacific headquarters.

The company also named Boris Mathiszik director of sales for the Asia-Pacific region. Mathiszik was vice president, x-ray inspection at Phoenix/X-ray Systems.

ELM CITY, NC – Following a late December fire that devastated its manufacturing plant, Fawn Electronics has relocated into a temporary site in Wilson, NC, where it is performing final integration while working feverishly to reestablish full production.

Early in the morning of Dec. 22, fire ripped through the company's plant in Elm City, destroying much of it. The fire has been ruled accidental. Work has been subcontracted while the new site is brought online.

Read more ...

HALF MOON BAY, CA -- Attendees on the second day of the SEMI Strategic Materials conference learned how Japanese materials suppliers joined together to cut costs, and were given an optimistic outlook on the convergence of front-end and back-end processes in chip making.

Yoshifumi Kawamoto, director general manager, R&D department, CASMAT, outlined the formation of the R&D consortium established in 2003 by Japanese materials suppliers. Member companies include JSR, Sumitomo Chemical, Sekisui Chemical, Tokyo Ohka Kogyo, Nitto Denko, Hitachi Chemical, Toray Industries and others.

Read more ...