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News

MINNEAPOLIS -- Nortech Systems Inc. reported net sales of $20.4 million for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, a 30% increase over last year. Net income was $202,857, versus a net loss of $155,541.

For the fiscal year, net sales at the EMS provider were up 25% to $72.7 million. Net income for year was $587,329, beating guidance, versus $633,448.

"We are very pleased with these record-setting revenue levels for Nortech in the fourth quarter and for the entire year," said Mike Degen, president and CEO. "We will use this opportunity to leverage these strong results to expand our customer base and continue to invest in the Nortech brand and our infrastructure."

Throughout the year margin pressure was strong due to higher energy costs, increased commodity prices and international competition.

Nortech guided for fiscal 2005 revenues to increase 8 to 10%, to $78 million to $80 million. Earnings per diluted share for 2005 are expected to be 30 to 35 cents.

SANTA CLARA, CA -- Ambitech International has sold its Silicon Valley PCB fabrication and assembly division to a group of investors. Terms were not disclosed.

Hunter Technology Corp. was acquired by Ambitech in March 2001, right at the end of the peak of the North American electronics market. Hunter has been in business for nearly 40 years.

Hunter specializes in printed circuit board fabrication and electronics assembly for high-mix products for medical, aerospace, communications and capital equipment.

BANNOCKBURN, IL - Enforcement of existing international trade agreements is the main thrust of an industry lobbying effort this spring.

IPC is coordinating a industrywide call on Congress and the Bush Administration to press China to live up to its trade agreements.

The annual event, called Capitol Hill Day, will take place May 18, in Washington, D.C.

The message is that until the administration enforces present WTO commitments, and U.S. trading partners abide by them, Congress should suspend consideration of any new trade agreements, IPC said in a press release.

"It's important to compel our trading partners to abide by the agreed upon rules of international trade, especially China, who continues to manipulate its currency for manufacturing and export advantages," says John Kania, IPC director of government relations. "We hope that by meeting with senators and representatives, we'll be able to influence national policy and legislation as it moves through Congress."

(Doug Bartlett, founding director of the U.S. Printed Circuit Alliance, discussed this topic in his keynote speech at PCB West 2005. Visit http://www.pcdandm.com/pcdmag/pdf/pcbwest05_keynote.pdf.)

For more information on the lobbying effort contact Kania at jkania@ipc.org.

DALLAS - Pintail Technologies, a provider of semiconductor test software, has
secured $7 million in venture capital funding, bringing the company's
total funding to date to $11.5 million. Austin Ventures, Agilent Ventures, Duchossois Technology Partners, IVF Ventures and STARTech Early Ventures were among the investors, Pintail said.

The new funding will be used to expand the company's worldwide sales and
support teams and to finance the development of additional test performance
improvement solutions.

Pintail's software is for mixed-signal test time acceleration, reducing field defects and reviewing test operations.

Milpitas, CA, March 18 - FlexICs, an ultra-low-temperature poly silicon flexible circuit manufacturing facility, will host a WebCast equipment auction next Tuesday.

Highlights of the 500-lot auction include: Cascade Microtech probe system, (2) CHA SSB-600 sputter systems, Karl Suss MA150 mask aligner, Sopra ES4-G ellipsometer, Tegal 901e etcher, Dektak 3ST profiler, Lamda Physik 400/4038 laser system, custom-designed cluster tool with a $2.4 million original acquisition cost, plus hundreds of additional technology items.

Oyster Bay, NY - March 18 - RFID supply chain mandates launched by a few big retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target are now well documented and understood. But many other retailers are finding problems and frustration when they try to apply RFID in the same way.

Why? According to ABI Research analyst Sara Shah, "There's no cookie-cutter approach to RFID." In a new study, the research firm finds a disconnection: RFID manufacturers -- many of them relatively new companies -- don't understand retail; and many retailers don't understand how RFID can benefit them. This leaves them frustrated and slows down market adoption.

"Wal-Mart's approach is creative," said Shah. "It's very worthwhile for them, which is why they're pushing forward on schedule. Other retailers follow, thinking that Wal-Mart's business case will apply just as well to them. But it may not work, because every business and every supply chain is different."

So, many retailers turn to their usual consulting companies -- often one of the largest half-dozen. But big consultants are rarely early adopters of new technologies, says ABI; they're often content to let ideas mature before getting involved.

Beyond supply chain management, nobody knows how many ways RFID can be used; known applications include security & "backdoor theft" prevention, contactless payments, advertising and promotions. Shah advises retailers to consider smaller consulting firms, where they'll find people who can find new ways to use RFID. Unfortunately, she adds, many of those small creative integrators lack the resources to execute system-wide rollouts for large clients.

For their part, RFID vendors need to educate themselves about retailing, and to develop solutions to retailers' problems, not just one-size-fits-all products.

AUSTIN, TX -- Low-cost assembly of RFID chips and antennas may be the most critical roadblock to reaching a five-cent RFID tag. With this in mind, TechSearch International has created a workshop to address assembly issues associated with RFID tag manufacturing.

Low-Cost RFID IC Packaging and Assembly: Roadblock on the Highway to a 5-cent RFID Tag, will be held March 29-30 in Austin, TX. The workshop will provide a forum for experts on all aspects of RFID IC packaging and assembly to present their work.

Rick Koskella, Sun Microsystem, will give the opening presentation -- RFID Scorecard: Accomplishments and Issues -- based on the experiences from Sun's RFID test center in Texas. Dr. Gitanjali Swamy will present a cost model for RFID. Presentations from semiconductor makers and inlay manufacturers include speakers from Philips, Texas Instruments, Celis Semiconductor, Alien Technology, Symbol Technologies and KSW Microtech.

Equipment makers, including Muhlbauer and Toray Engineering, will share their experiences in the RFID tag assembly area. A presentation on printed electronics will be given by Dr. Dan Gamota, Motorola. Presentations will also highlight RFID activities in Japan and China. Dr. Frank Bachner of TechSearch will moderate a panel discussing the key challenges to lowering RFID inlay and tag assembly cost.

HONG KONG -- Hong Kong-based Trans Global Logistics is advising air freight shippers to plan for an extra couple of days' transit time from Asia gateways beginning in mid-March. The reason? Air freight volumes - fueled by high-tech and electronics shipments - are aniticpated to surge as the "mini peak season" takes shape.

According to the company, recent canceled flights out of Hong Kong will add to a backlog of freight. And although air lift serving Shanghai has increased since last year, growing demand from shippers is creating a tight space situation. Carriers are expected to increase rates up to 25% this month.With business activity in India picking up, transit times are expected to be three to four days longer than last month. Carriers are generally only committing confirmed transit times for Express service.

Looking ahead, president Robert Mooney stated that another surge in the price fo crude oil may cause airlines to pass along these costs through higher fuel surchaces (FSC). Hong Kong carriers have already announced a return to $0.36/Kg FSC, effective March 22.

Limassol, Cyprus - ASBIS (asbis.com), a supplier of computer components to the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) emerging markets, has signed an Authorized Distributorship Contract with Taiwan-based Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. (Foxconn.com).

The company is now authorized to distribute all Foxconn brand products, including motherboards, chassis and coolers. The agreement covers all territories of ASBIS' current operation.

The partnership will promote the sales of Foxconn products throughout 26 countries with distribution centers located in Holland, the Czech Republic, United Arab Emirates and Finland. Foxconn will provide a three-year warranty for motherboards and two-year warranty for chassis, power supply, coolers and card readers.

Richardson, TX -- It's solder bumping, not jetting or gold stud bumping. CVI (www.covinc.com) can now bump single die and partial wafers with solder alloys that are representative of final production. Available alloys include SnPb (eutectic), SAC, Pb-rich, InPb and AuSn.

Bumping helps in high-speed, high-power applications that need quick turn to validate design, and helps provide better test simulation prior to final design. When cycle time is important, cost is critical and resources are limited, bumping a few die at a time can be effective to evaluate a design.

The process is applicable to traditional or MEMS components, and bumps can be applied to a substrate or die. Bump-to-bump variability is reportedly reduced compared to other processes such as solder jetting, screen-printing or electroplating. The traditional prototype method of using gold studs followed by thermocompression or thermosonic bonding can be eliminated.

The company can also attach solder balls to bare Al bond pads. The same hardware can be used to bump a die with various alloys to evaluate lead-free solutions. Alternating pads on the die can be bumped with differing alloys or geometry, allowing electromigration studies within the same die or within one wafer. This also reduces lot-to-lot and wafer-to-wafer variation.

The process is said to eliminate variables such as paste viscosity, metal load changes, missing bumps, voiding, and changes in size and planarity.

CVI can accommodate individual die bumping, partial wafer bumping, or die repair with various alloy compositions. Contact Terence Collier for more information: tqcollier@covinc.com.

HOUSTON, TX, March 17 - Action Circuits (UK) Ltd. recently purchased a BP4700 automated system from BP Microsystems. The company added to its full range of BP Micro programming systems to accommodate its increasing programming service.

Action Circuits services large component distributors, key names in the automotive industry and is the only approved programming center for Quicklogic Corp., Xilinx Inc. and Altera Corp. in Europe. The Luton, England-based company expects to program over 12 million devices this year.

NASHUA, NH -- Teradyne Inc.'s printed circuit board plant today received a key U.S. EPA recognition for surpassing environmental regulation standards.

The company's High Performance Circuits facility was named a member of the EPA's National Environmental Performance Track program, joining more than 300 facilities nationwide in their commitment to consistently exceed environmental regulation requirements. Teradyne is among only six companies in New Hampshire to be selected, the company said.

The National Environmental Performance Track program is designed to recognize and encourage top environmental performers -- those that go beyond compliance with regulatory requirements to attain levels of environmental performance and management that benefit people, communities and the environment, the company said in a statement.

The Teradyne plant qualified for the program through its performance, continuous commitment to environmental compliance and implementation of a strong environmental management system.

"Performance Track facilities represent a new generation of environmental leaders who have the vision to embrace the strategies that will protect the environment for generations to come," said Dan Fiorino, director of EPA's Performance Incentives Division.