SAN JOSE -- Outsourcing of cellphone manufacturing will increase about 10 points over the next four years. However, the majority production will remain in-house, says research firm iSuppli.

The fast pace of R&D changes in cellphones will limit the ability of ODMs to convince OEMs to outsource their design work, the firm said.

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ELKHART, IN -- CTS Corp. today announced a $32 million deal to build a electronic throttle control accelerator pedal module for a major Japanese automobile manufacturer.

Production is scheduled to start in July of 2007. The production program is expected to generate sales of over $7 million per year by 2008 and over $32 million in total new revenues for CTS over the life of the program.

CTS did not disclose the OEM's identity.

"This is a new customer to CTS and is also the fourth Japanese OEM to select CTS' electronic accelerator pedal module," said Christine Trowbridge, Pedal Business Manager for the Automotive Products Group.

The pedal will be used on a global small-car platform that will be manufactured in three Asian countries.

To date, CTS' pedal module has been selected by seven automotive OEMs for 42 different automotive platforms. It is produced in North America, Asia and Europe. Pedal module sales are expected to reach $18 million this year and ramp to over $60 million by 2008, based on current contracts..

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Munich – Christopher Associates was presented with the Sales Achievement Award for implementing Pb-free solder pastes at leading customers in North America at the recent Koki Global Sales Meeting held during Productronica. 
 
The award recognized activities including extended product evaluations, technical support in the implementation of Pb-free processes, customer education and training, and successful changeovers to Pb- free solder pastes in high production applications.
 
Koki (Tokyo, Japan) is a supplier of solder pastes, fluxes and other soldering products.

NASHVILLE — Kyzen Corp. has appointed CCR, based in Ontario, as its manufacturing representative for Canada. Kyzen develops and produces cleaning materials for electronics and manufacturing operations.  
 
“We are pleased to have such an experienced partner as CCR, ” said Tom Forsythe, VP of global sales and marketing. “The staff have numerous years of experience supporting their customers’ cleaning processes.”  
 

Jersey City, NJ – In August, the U.S. Patent Office awarded a patent to Cookson Electronics Assembly Materials Group for its Alpha Dimensions Stencil Configuration, Design and Ordering Software. The patent, "System and Method for Modifying Electronic Design Data" covers the part of the software that allows unique or custom stencil design rules to be electronically programmed into the system and then automatically applied to any standard stencil data file (ie. Gerber 274x) creating a new data file that is used to produce the stencil.
 
"We are very pleased to be issued this important patent. Cookson Electronics has invested in Alpha Dimensions as a unique way of providing our customers with a highly accurate and reliable way of applying their increasingly complex stencil designs,” said Mike Murphy, Global Product Manager for stencils.  “Alpha Dimensions also gives us the ability to apply a particular customer’s design rules to stencils produced by any of our stencil manufacturing sites worldwide. This supports our customer’s ability to easily transfer production jobs between their global sites."
 
Cookson developed the system with the help of ProVision Software.

Redmond, WA and Chandler, AZ – Data I/O and Microchip Technology will cooperate to further develop their respective and mutual customer bases. Both companies will direct increased resources for closer customer support at the device level as well as local sales and marketing cooperation.
 
Bruce D. Rodgers, VP of sales and marketing Americas/Asia for Data I/O, said, “Our companies have had a successful relationship for some time, and this agreement recognizes that we can further strengthen ties to better serve our many mutual customers in Asia, Europe and the Americas. This agreement is equally important because Microchip and Data I/O see the potential business growth associated with a closer working relationship, which allows customers to benefit from increased early support through the many phases of volume production.”
 
Microchip Technology provides microcontroller and analog semiconductors. Data I/O Corp.makes manual and automated device programming systems.

Salem, NH – EMS provider Synchronized Manufacturing Technologies has achieved ISO-9001:2000 certification.
 
To obtain the certification, a company must demonstrate its ability to consistently provide product that meets customer and applicable regulatory requirements, and aims to enhance customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system.
 
“We are extremely proud of our employees who worked diligently to achieve this certification. When we founded this company in 2004, our first goal was to achieve ISO-9001:2000 certification.  Accomplishing this goal within the first 14 months of our business illustrates our commitment to our customer’s goals and providing the widest opportunities to our valued employees,” said Gary Tarallo VP of operations.

NEWARK, N.Y -- IEC Electronics Corp. reported fourth-quarter net income of $52,000 on revenue of $4.1 million.

For the year ended Sept. 30, IEC's net income was $285,000 on revenue of $19.1 million. This compares to a net loss of $828,000 on revenue of $27.7 million for fiscal 2004.

For the fourth quarter last year, the EMS provider reported net income of $62,000 on revenue of $7.7 million

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Essex, CT –   Landrex  Technologies of Santa Clara, CA, has named Ascentech as its sales representative for the six-state New England territory.
 
Landrex manufactures the OPTIMA series of PCB AOI equipment.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The IPC has commissioned a history of the past 50 years of electronics manufacturing.

The book is due to be published in early 2007, on the anniversary of the trade group's founding in 1957.

Mike Martel of MMC Inc. has been tapped to put the book together. He is seeking input, including recollections and perspectives about milestones and notable developments. Contact Martel at mmc@mmc-marketing.com, mmcmarketing@gmail.com, 401-254-1473.

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Irving, TX – EMS provider Elcoteq received the Frost & Sullivan 2005 Customer Service Leadership Award for providing customers with value-added services.
 
“Elcoteq is the only EMS company that focuses on communications technology including WiMAX, and is evolving constantly to serve its customers better from a technology point of view,” said F&S research analyst Vinoth Praveen Premkumar. “The company’s deep understanding and competency in communications technology fosters its expertise in defining and manufacturing products.”
 

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The September 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 8.5% year-on-year, while bookings fell 0.4%, according to the latest poll of North American PCB fabricators.

A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, 33% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio fell 0.05 points to 1.13. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

The ratio for rigid PCBs rose 0.07 points to 1.14, while that of flexible circuits dropped 0.42 points to 1.10.

“Rigid PCB sales in October continued a bit below last year, but the increase in bookings suggests that this segment of the industry will have a solid fourth quarter,” said IPC in a statement. “The sudden decrease in October bookings for flex was a surprise, but it is not a cause for alarm. Monthly bookings tend to be very volatile in the flex segment.”

Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up more than 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 3.6% in October vs. a year ago. Bookings rose 31.5% during the month.

Flex sales rose 49.1% and bookings dropped 62.7%. Value-added services made up 78% of the shipment value of flex circuits.

Year-to-date, rigid shipments are down 4.6% and bookings are up 1.5%. Flex bookings are up 29.9% and shipments are up 17%. Shipments of all boards are up 1.9% and bookings are up 5.3%.

Sequentially, combined shipments were down 10.2% vs. September, while bookings were down 35.9%. Rigid shipments were down 18.3% and bookings fell 12.8%. Flex shipments fell 14.7% and bookings were down 77.3% vs. September.

Sixty-seven percent of PCB shipments reported was domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 85% of rigid PCB and 29% of flexible circuit shipments in September, IPC said.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.