Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - News

News

NAPLES, FL – The first annual Electronic Industry Supply Chain Conference, hosted by ERAI, will be held May 1-2 in Las Vegas.

The event focuses on procurement and quality concerns and regulatory issues affecting the global supply chain, and will include sessions ranging from counterfeit and high-risk part mitigation to IP enforcement, and understanding importing, exporting and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).

Sessions include the Latest Visual Inspection Programs and Techniques to Identify Counterfeit and High-Risk Parts; Testing Techniques and Standards for Various Components Used; Legal Liability of Counterfeits and High-Risk Parts in the Supply Chain; Identifying and Controlling Risks of Item(s) and Vendor Selection; Understanding Government and Industry Reporting Agencies; Bureau of Industry & Security (BIS) Rules and Regulations that Affect Your Transactions; Import Regulations; Export Regulations; and International Traffic in Arms Regulations.

EISCC is open to franchised and independent distributors, original component manufacturers, OEMs, contract manufacturers, government agencies and non-profit associations.

To register, visit www.erai.com.

WASHINGTON – The AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) will spend about $6.2 million to increase efforts aimed at state government affairs, including hiring staff and branching out to more states.

“Legislation affecting the high-tech industry isn’t limited to just one state,” said Christopher Hansen, president and CEO. “At any given time, one state can introduce legislation that can impact the entire industry, for better or for worse.”

AeA will focus on three initiatives: expanding the state government affairs programs to additional states; hiring staff to oversee the environmental programs in AeA at the state, national, and international levels; and initiating a Web-based resource that provides information on state bills affecting the high-tech industry.

AeA currently has 20 lobbyists across Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Washington. AeA will contract with lobbyists in additional states, and will also be adding environmental experts to its staff to advocate public policy and “green tech” globally.

The AeA Information Network is intended to offer AeA members a one-stop site for obtaining information regarding relevant state governmental activities.

WASHINGTON, DC – The AeA (formerly the American Electronics Association) named Christopher W. Hansen to succeed William T. Archey as president and chief executive.

Hansen was the group executive officer for the American Association for Retired Persons, at which he managed 53 offices and 675 staff located in Washington and throughout the country.

Archey will remain on board until February to aid the transition.

BEIJING – China's recent labor laws might actually prove a boon to larger companies such as Foxconn and Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings, analysts say.

SHENZHEN – Foxconn, Huawei, ZTE and more than 300 other companies have formed a local electronics manufacturing alliance, offering preferential policies for its members. It is unclear whether the preferences run afoul of WTO or other trade laws.

CHICAGO – Methode Electronics will slash 700 jobs from its U.S. automotive operations to help the components maker compete, the company said today. The moves are expected to be completed by year-end.

In a press release, the firm said only limited production and support staff would remain at its automotive operations facilities in Carthage and Golden, IL. Production of legacy connectors at its Rolling Meadows, IL, factory would be cut as well.

"As a result of fewer programs remaining for these plants and anticipated continued reduction in customer production volumes, Methode is taking this action to transfer the remaining programs from its U.S. facilities," the company said.

Methode makes a range of connector products, including thick film hybrids and flex circuits. It also owns Trace Laboratories.

SAN JOSE – Sanmina-SCI reported first-quarter revenue of $2.53 billion, up a slight 0.8% sequentially and down almost 9% year-over-year. The results were inline with company guidance.

ELKHART, IN – CTS Corp. will acquire privately held Tusonix Inc. for $12.25 million cash. The deal is expected to close by the end of January. No other terms were disclosed.

Tusonix designs and manufactures ceramic EMI/RFI filters, capacitor assemblies and related components, serving the military, industrial, instrumentation and telecom markets. The company operates from facilities in Tucson, AZ and Nogales, Mexico.

First year sales are estimated at approximately $15 million. The worldwide market for the acquired products is estimated to exceed $100 million.

CTS provides EMS services and builds automotive components.

STOCKHOLM – EMS firm Note will acquire Gloucestershire, U.K.-based EMS company Proqual, the companies announced today. No financial terms of the agreement were disclosed.

Note also announced the sacking of 124 employees in Sweden last week, as the company moves production to China and Poland.

Proqual specializes in prototype and small-run production. The company has annual sales of $7 million and 40 employees.

Note had 2006 sales of $270.9 million, and employs 1,200 worldwide.

SHANGHAI – Zestron Asia/Pacific has relocated to a larger facility in Shanghai.

Located in the Zun Xuan Industrial Park, the facility reportedly contains the largest Asia/Pacific application technology center.

The facility was designed to meet increasing customer demand for qualifying cleaning processes, and to evaluate and compare cleaning performances, Zestron said.

NEENAH, WI – Plexus Corp. announced first-quarter revenue of $458 million, up 7.7% sequentially and 27% year-over-year. For the quarter, the EMS firm earned $27.3 million, up 44.7% year-over-year.

ORLANDO – The SMTA requests abstracts for the AIMS Harsh Environment Electronics workshop, taking place Aug. 18-19 in Orlando.

The SMTA, with Auburn University, is moving the program from Indianapolis to Orlando to co-locate with SMTA International.

The workshop will focus on harsh environments with an added emphasis on military and space. Abstracts with new and timely information on the latest developments are solicited.

Specific subject areas may include semiconductor technology; substrate advancements; connectors and interconnect technology; lead-free implementation; advancements in materials; next-generation harsh environment automotive systems; the latest developments in thermal cycle testing for extreme environment electronics; substrate surface finishes for harsh environment applications; chemical, thermal and vibration considerations for industrial electronics; reliability (ESS, HALT, HASS), and operating environments for military electronics (land, sea, air and space).

The deadline for abstracts is Feb. 29.

Speakers will be required to submit presentation materials for inclusion in the workshop proceedings. Please note there is not a paper requirement for this event.

Interested participants should send a 200-300 word abstract to Melissa Serres at melissa@smta.org or to the SMTA Web site at http://www.smta.org/education/education.cfm#harsh.