ROCHESTER, NY ¾ Hover-Davis Inc., designer and manufacturer of component delivery systems for the PCB assembly industry, has appointed Sincotron Finland Oy as its distributor for Finland and the Baltic States.

Sincotron Finland is a distributor of machines, material and services, including SMD placement, inspection, microelectronics (such as bonding, curing and cleaning), soldering, dispensing, screen printing, testing, software, profiling, tools and consumables (such as solder paste and stencil wiper papers).

“Sincotron is well established and respected in the Finnish market,” said Mike Hayward, H-D European sales manager. “Their line card is complimentary to the Hover-Davis product offering and plans for expansion into the Baltic States means that we can extend our coverage into these emerging markets.”

Norwalk, CT- Technology software developer BDMetrics will debut ATExpo Connects, a personalized web-based tool, at the Assembly Technology Expo in September. Available for each show attendee, the software mines through the ATExpo database of people, products and conference sessions to generate a custom report tailored to the attendees' needs and interests. 

The tool will be release in mid-August. After attendees register, they will be emailed a personalized report detailing people they should meet, companies they should visit and conference sessions they should attend, based on the preference each attendee outlines when they register. The report will be updated as the show dates approach.

ATExpo will take place Sept. 27-29, at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL.

HOLLIS, NH – A prominent electronics assembly benchmark and consulting company is launching a study on electronics box assembly cost of conversion benchmarks.

“This is an important first step in fulfilling the evolving needs of OEM and EMS organizations for box level benchmark information,” said Steve Kalenik, CEERIS International senior consultant, in a press statement.

JACKSON, MI -- Sparton Corp., a provider of electronics manufacturing services, said today that it will no longer pursue negotiations to acquire medical device manufacturer HDJ Co. and its wholly owned subsidiary, Specialized Medical Devices Inc.

The company did not disclose a reason for the decision.

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Jabil Circuit Inc., a top tier contract assembler,  will add 500 staff to its Memphis operations by the end of the year, to support recently awarded contracts for building electronic cash registers and self-serve kiosks. Jabil will also increase the size of the facility by more than 50%.

In a press statement, operations manager Alex Privert said the company is looking for the additional employees to handle everything from electronics system configuration and integration to material handling tasks.

TAIPEI -- Taiwanese original design manufacturers will contribute about $400 million in revenues to Flextronics International in fiscal 2006, the company's chief executive said yesterday, according to published reports.

Speaking in Taipei yesterday, Flextronics chief executive Michael Marks said sales centralization of brand products coupled with declining average selling prices of ODM products is opening the door for partnerships, DigiTimes reported. 

Flextronics, the world's largest EMS company, gained about $100 million in revenues from Taiwanese ODMs in 2005, Marks said.

DigiTimes also reported that a Flextronics spokeswoman denied local reports that Flextronics would partner on IT products with Asustek Computer.

According to DigiTimes, Marks said that Flextronics is concentrating on improving profitability, not revenue growth.

"AIT's QFN package enables us to leverage power, footprint and performance that renders improved reliability while catering to the fast growing consumer electronics market," said Arnold Virrey, packaging manager at Flextronics. 

FRANKLIN, MA – Speedline Technologies has announced a free Web seminar on fine-pitch printing, to be held July 21, at 11 a.m. (EST).

Topics will include:
   •  Squeegee selection;
   •  Solder paste evaluation ;
   •  Lead-free solder paste printing;
   •  Stencil design, including pin-in-paste;
   •  Aperture design;
   •  Board support;
   •  Fast cycle time printing;
   •  Post-print inspection (2-D and 3-D).
 

For more info and to register, visit speedlinetech.com/seminars.

The company will continue to offer free Webinars this fall, including a Lead-Free Overview, on Aug. 18, and Lead-Free Wave Soldering, on Sept. 15.

Oulunsalo, Finland -- Juha Hulkko has been appointed chief executive of Elektrobit Group, a Finland-based specialist in the design, life-cycle testing and production automation of electronics products.

A founder of Elektrobit Group and a major shareholder, Hulkko has acted as Chairman since 2002.

Former CEO Juha Sipilä will take over the role of Chairman.

The executive board has been further restructured, with Jukka Harju appointed as COO. He will continue his duties in mergers and acquisitions, and oversee the executive vice presidents responsible for Strategic Business Units and Logistics and Information Management. Johann Haas has been appointed executive VP, Automotive Unit. All other support functions except Human Resources will be directed by CFO Seppo Laine.

AUSTIN, TX -- A May 1 fire at ASE's Chung-Li, Taiwan facility that destroyed part of the company's assembly and test capacity and decimated its flip-chip substrate production line will heap further pressure on an already tenuous supply of laminate substrates for semiconductor packaging.

Increased demand for laminate substrates this year, coupled with the ASE fire, is expected to push prices higher for wirebond PBGA and flip-chip substrates, says a new report from research firm TechSearch International. Unless capacity is expanded over existing plans, the situation could be similar for 2006, TechSearch said in a press release.
 

Wunstorf, Germany -- phoenix|x-ray Systems + Services reports that it has increased sales by 35% over fiscal 2003. According to a press release, the company has also given a positive impact on the regional employment quota, with a staff of over 70 employees that includes a growing number of research and development engineers.

phoenix|x-ray is a manufacturer of microfocus and nanofocus x-ray systems, x-ray tubes and computed tomography systems.

“We see this an investment into the future,” says Helmut Appelt, general manager. “Our goal is to keep our position of the market leader in our segment which means we always need to be ahead our competitors when it comes to developing new products.”

The company cites as an example the launch of the product series v|tome|x in 2002. The x-ray system combines 3-D computed tomography and 2-D inspection with submicron resolution. The demand for computed tomography has increased during the last couple of years, leading to an interesting market potential. Accordingly, phoenix|x-ray set-up a new business department for CT.

Despite the growth of the 3-D inspection business, phoenix|x-ray still sees new applications for 2-D inspection. The x|argos introduced in mid April is a high kV x-ray system for large samples up to 100 kg. The company believes the market potential for this system is large due to new materials and production techniques (especially in the automotive industry) that require high-resolution x-ray inspection.