SAN JOSE -- Sanmina-SCI pre-announced its fiscal third quarter revenue to be $2.71 billion versus previouslguidance of $2.7 to $2.8 billion.

Sanmina said that excluding one-time items, it expects earnings of six to seven cents a share, down from previous guidance of eight to 10 cents.

The EMS provider blamed the shortfall on a less favorable product mix, less-than-expected profitability in computing, and slower than anticipated improvement in the enclosures.

Strength in communications infrastructure products is being offset by soft sales in military/aerospace and computing, wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Carter Shoop in a research note.

Chairman and chief executive Jure Sola said, "While we are disappointed that our financial results for the fiscal third quarter fell short of our expectations, we believe we have taken the steps necessary to improve on our execution. The market conditions continue to improve and we feel that our short and long-term business model remains intact."

The company also cited poor execution at its Asia PCB plants and restructuring inefficiencies at its facility in Toledo, Spain.

Absolute inventory dollars rose sequentially despite previous expectations of a decline. Shoop estimates third-quarter inventory turns fell from 8.6 times in the second quarter.

On a conference call, Sanmina management said that the fourth quarter will be "hopefully a little bit” better  sequentially.

LOS ANGELES -- P. Kay Metal Inc. has announced its initial distribution chain for the company's MS2 molten solder surfactant.

MS2 is sold through a combination of direct sales and sales representative companies in North America, and through stocking distributors in South America, Europe and Asia.

"To introduce our revolutionary dross elimination technology to the industry, we've chosen to partner with companies that are highly respected by their customers," said Larry Kay, president. "And in many cases, they also represent assembly technology and wave soldering machines such as Vitronics-Soltec, Electrovert and others."

Appointed were:

• OS-Tech: Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oregon and Washington.
• Electri-Rep Inc.: Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Southern Illinois. B&L Technologies, Inc.: New York State.
• Phoenix United Associates: Long Island, Metro New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
• Phoenix Marketing Representatives: Arizona, New Mexico, and Nogales, Mexico. Foresite, Inc.: Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky and Michigan.
• Mar-Tec: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee.
• Wong's Kong King: Asia (Hong Kong, Philippines, China, Malaysia and Singapore).
• Hitech Electronica Industrial e Comercial: Brazil
• Adtool Corp.: Canada.

The company expects to announce additional distributors and representatives within the next two months.

HEREDIA, COSTA RICA -- Specialty Coating Systems has opened an 8,000-sq. ft. facility in Heredia, Costa Rica.

The company will make conformal coating at the plant, its tenth location worldwide.

The company called the site a natural choice as many international companies find attractive the country’s location, workforce and access to growing markets — including electronics and medical devices.

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HOUSTON – BP Microsystems today announced that it has shipped the first two units of its Helix Integrated Programming System, its latest automated device programmer.

Helix is a desktop automated system designed to handle a range of packages including MSOP, SOIC, PLCC, SSOP and TSSOP.