BANNOCKBURN, IL — Steve Pudles led a long list of executives and engineers feted by IPC during its annual trade show last week.

ORMOND BEACH, FL -- Werner Engelmaier, perhaps the industry's preeminent expert on solder joint reliability, died Friday. He was 72.

ATTLEBORO FALLS, MA -- Contract electronics manufacturer Distron has started building a 13,000-sq. ft. addition to its headquarters here.

KREUZWERTHEIM, GERMANY -- A German regional court has found for Seho Systems in its patent dispute against Ersa. Ersa is appealing the judgment.

LAS VEGAS – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY today announced winners of its 2011 Service Excellence Awards (SEAs) for electronics manufacturing services providers and electronics assembly equipment, materials and software suppliers.

STRATHAM, NH -- Vitronics Soltec USA will close its facility here and move production of its reflow and selective soldering lines to other Vitronics and Speedline sites.

LAS VEGAS – CIRCUITS ASSEMBLY today announced winners of the 2011 New Product Introduction Award for electronics assembly equipment, materials and software.

TAIPEI -- Foxconn Technology Group announced plans to invest up to $12 billion in new manufacturing capacity and related services in Brazil.

LYON, FRANCE -- Flip chips made up 13% of all IC packages sold in 2010, and some 29% of the global IC  assembly, packaging and test market, a new research report says.

ST. LOUIS – Viasystems Group said it expects only minor impacts on the direct flow of supplies as a result of the Japan disasters; however, the possible impacts on its customers’ future order patterns are more difficult to assess.

TAIPEI -- Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) reported first quarter sales rose 34% year-over-year as the world's largest electronics manufacturing services provider brushed off sourcing problems stemming from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

WASHINGTON – The US Environmental Protection Agency requires electronic submissions for new chemical notices under the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Beginning Apr. 6, companies can no longer submit new chemical notices and support documents on paper for EPA’s review. This is aligned with Europe, China, and the EPA's mission to modernize chemical reporting and eliminate outdated modes of chemical data management. 

All new TSCA section 5 pre-manufacture notices must be submitted electronically through CDX – or on optical CD – and must use e-PMN software. 

The same rule applies to support documents for notices submitted after Apr. 6, 2010. Optical discs can no longer be used after Apr. 6, 2012.

With PMNs, new chemical notices must be submitted to EPA at least 90 days prior to the manufacture or import of the chemical.

For more information on EPA’s electronic reporting software and CDX, visit http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/newchems//epmn/epmn-index.htm.