News
BOSTON -- Teradyne Inc. posted a quarterly profit compared with a year-earlier loss.
The
company posted a profit of $3.3 million in the fourth quarter, compared
with a loss of $11.5 million a year earlier. Sales rose to $377 million
from $357.6 million a year earlier. For the quarter sales were down 18% sequentially and up 5% year-over-year.
The company said in a statement that despite the slight increase in orders in the fourth quarter, customer demand remains tentative.
Teradyne forecasts first-quarter sales of $290 million and $310 million, with a loss between 24 and 31 cents a share. This guidance includes pre-tax restructuring and other charges of $13 million and a $2.5 million tax provision for foreign and state taxes.
Analysts on average had forecast the company to post first-quarter revenue of $343.18 million, according to Reuters Estimates.
On a conference call with analysts president Mike Bradley said the
company's Connection Systems division has downsized its manufacturing
footprint in U.S. in the wake of a sharp downturn in orders in the
third quarter. The moves should reduce the company's breakeven point by
$10 million a quarter.
"Our U.S. operations will become epicenter of design capabilities.
Future growth in volume manufacturing will occur in low cost regions,"
Bradley said.
Connection Systems' orders were down over 20% sequentially in the fourth quarter. The division grew 39% for the year.
Connection Systems includes PCB bare-board manufacturing and connectors.
The company, which earlier this month laid off 320 employees at its Connection Systems and Assembly Test divisions and took a $11 million charge, said the semiconductor test market continues to be soft, mostly at the subcontractor level.
TAIPEI -- Hon Hai Precision Industry yesterday forecast first-quarter sales to rise 30% over last year, thanks to sustained demand from the holiday season.
Quoting chairman Terry Gou, the Taipei Times reported, "Overall, we
feel the first quarter is quite good, compared to the same period last
year as Christmas demand for consumer gadgets has not subsided as it
did in the past," adding that a similar
situation has occurred in other electronic segments.
"The first quarter will not be as slow as it was before," he said.
Hon Hai's fourth quarter sales were up 27% to NT$136.8 billion, from NT$107.8 billion year-on-year. For the year, the company said sales grew 26% to NT$413.4 billion.Foxconn International Holdings, the company's handset unit, could gain as much as $432.6 million when it goes public on the Hong Kong exchange later this year, the Taipei Times reported. The company plans to spend 54% of the sale's proceeds to expand production in China, Hungary and South America.
Foxconn earned $134.5 million on sales of $2.1 billion in the nine months ended last September.
"Wireless is among the most competitive of all consumer electronics segments, and in order to compete today, manufacturers must leverage all resources available to them globally," said James Kelly, executive vice president and chief operating officer, in a statement. "Because manufacturing in La Jolla is cost prohibitive, we're fortunate to have the manufacturing expertise and state-of-the-art facilities of our sister company KMX, located less than an hour away. Taking advantage of this opportunity is not only good for the company, it's also good for the San Diego/Tijuana region as we're maintaining over 1,500 jobs north of the border, while supporting the growing economy south of the border with our manufacturing operations."
Kyocera also plans to cut another 150 jobs in San Diego as it spreads its service and repair business to other regions. Sales and marketing, human resources, finance and R&D will remain at Kyocera's headquarters in San Diego.
The move makes Motorola as the sole company building mobile phones in the U. S., according to RCR Wireless News. Nokia Corp. maintains a final assembly plant in Fort Worth, TX, and LG Electronics this month opened an R&D lab in the U.S.
Hong Kong based Schmidt & Co., a provider of manufacturing process technology
and technical services, will provide sales and services support for Speedline's Electrovert line of wave soldering, reflow soldering and cleaning equipment and its MPM line of stencil and screen printing systems in Taiwan and mainland China.
Schmidt will focus on Taiwanese customers in those regions, Speedline said.
WALLINGFORD, CT - Amphenol Corp. said that fourth-quarter earnings rose on strong performance in its core business, and the company declared its first-ever quarterly dividend.
The company said net income for the quarter was $45.6 million, up from $33 million a year ago.
Sales rose to $404 million from $342 million. Amphenol said sales at its interconnect products segment, which accounts for 87% of total sales, were up 20% from a year ago.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call were expecting the company to earn 49 cents in the latest quarter on sales of $393.6 million.
For the year, net income rose to $163.3 million from $104 million. Sales rose to $1.53 billion from $1.24 billion.
SAN FRANCISCO -- A leading analyst today maintained its cautious outlook for providers of electronics manufacturing services.
Deutsche Bank said recent reports from major OEMs that outsource manufacturing indicate tepid and in some cases negative growth ahead for EMS firms.
In hardware sales, IBM, a leading outsourcer, reported a 1% year-on-year increase in the fourth quarter due to slowness in its mainframes, storage and PC businesses, down from 9% sequentially. Motorola and Juniper fell on a year-on-year basis.
Handset shipments improved as Motorola and SonyEricsson beat quarterly forecasts, although the average selling prices were lower than expectations, DB said.
SECAUCUS, NJ -- Panasonic Industrial Co. today named Arrow Electronics as an authorized North American distributor of its passive and electromechanical products, effective Feb. 28.
Arrow, one of the world's largest component distributors, currently sells Panasonic's parts in Europe and Canada.
by Mike Buetow
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 14 - Solectron Corp.
will close one of its four factories here in May and pay a reported
$1.6 million to the 750 displaced staff, a local newspaper reported
today.
The Business Times reported
Solectron said the Johor plant was no longer viable due to customers'
changing needs. Most of the business will be transferred to other sites
in the region," Joe Tang, south Asia operations vice president, was
quoted as saying.
Solectron employs more than 7,000 workers at its four manufacturing plants here.
Analysts feel the nation's electronics manufacturers are migrating to lower cost regions, the Business Times said.
ALAMEDA, CA, Jan. 14 - Technology Forecasters Inc. forecast that last year's double-digit growth for the EMS and ODM industry will continue into 2005.
In its latest report, the market research group forecasts average growth rates over the next five years of 15% for EMS, 20% for ODMs, and 16% for all outsourcing.
Overall drivers for healthier growth include the fact that EMS companies, led by Flextronics, are making a major commitment to the ODM model to maintain customers. "There are more opportunities for cooperation between ODM and EMS companies," said vice president Eric Miscoll. "As ODMs brand their products and push into the OEM space, there's less competition between the ODM and EMS business models, because they send their manufacturing to EMS."
TFI also reported:
- As RoHS and WEEE regulations take effect, OEMs and EMS companies are reviewing bills of materials for compliance. "It's a good time to take a look at a wide range of design for manufacturing issues, while ‘the patient is on the operating table," recommends president Pamela Gordon Gordon. "Additional cost savings will come not only from more efficient designs, but also from pruning product lines before the compliance deadlines."
- The firm's Beijing-based analyst Mark Natkin's says local technology standards are being promoted by the Chinese government to help create a sense of national unity. "Even failed standards help achieve this goal, so expect this trend to continue," he says.
The firm's next quarterly market meeting takes place March 9-10 in Guadalajara and features comparisons between manufacturing in Mexico. Also to be covered: outsourcing lessons learned in computers, environmental compliance in low‑cost regions and a panel discussion on the current status of manufacturing in Mexico.
by Mike Buetow
Jan. 14, West Haven, CT - Enthone
Inc. will discuss the latest
in lead-free final finishes and microvia metalization during a series of presentations
at an upcoming trade show.
Enthone will sponsor
30-minute presentations at the booth of its parent company, Cookson
Electronics, during IPC Apex/Printed Circuits Expo. The sessions will
provide the most recent advancements in. The include:
Presentations will cover advancements
in microvia fill applications using patented direct metalization and copper via
fill systems, and lead-free silver finish OSPs said to be able of handling
multiple reflows.
Presentations will be made on Feb. 22 and 23. Seating is limited; email Barry Lee Cohen at bcohen@cooksonelectronics.com to reserve.
by Mike Buetow
ROGERSTONE, South Wales, Jan. 15 - Ultra Electronics Sonar and Communication Systems has awarded a major defense electronics contract to Ttems, a provider of EMS services. Under terms of the deal, worth a reported £6 million over the next 10 years, Ttems will build sonobuoys as part of a program for the U.K. Ministry of Defence.
TTems will be involved in design and manufacturing the sonobuoys.
Sonobuoys are devices that can be dropped from helicopters to detect and locate underwater objects by reflecting/intercepting acoustic waves from an underwater, surface, or above surface acoustic source. The sonobuoys operate in the same way that radar and radio direction finding equipment operate with electromagnetic waves.
U.K.-based Ttems is a subsidiary of TT electronics. It is comprised of AB Electronic Assemblies in Rogerstone, South Wales, and Welwyn Systems in Blyth, Northumberland.
So says a new report from Manufacturing Insights. The research firm also says
Profitable growth remains at the top of the manufacturer's agenda, but will come from emerging markets and new services.
Smart companies will combine Lean, Six Sigma, and IT investment oversight into a common transformation governance structure.
Renewed interest in supply chain applications and projects that deliver "productive fulfillment."
Supply chains will be calibrated to demand information making the aggregation, organization, and integration of this information critical to success.
Use of best practices such as product portfolio management will be become more widespread.
Press Releases
- Stannol Welcomes James Wertin as Director of Technical Sales and Solutions – North America; Thomas Ruch Comments
- APE, Automated Production Equipment, Marks 56-year Milestone
- Kitron Signs Multi-Year Agreement for Advanced Sensor Manufacturing in Europe; Kristoffer Asklöv Comments
- Scanfil Boosts Investment in Electronics Manufacturing in the US; Christophe Sut Comments