BALVE, GERMANY – The previously announced merger between Cobar Group BV and Balver Zinn became official today, as ownership of Cobar was transferred to the non-ferrous metals producer.

BOSTON -- Teradyne Inc. and Solectron Corp. last month extended their standard manufacturing agreement to include additional manufacturing and test requirements, including final, configuration and test for most of Teradyne's Flex family of products.

The work for the new requirements will be done by Solectron's Suzhou subsidiary. The agreement with Solectron will expire in 2010, and may be automatically extended for subsequent annual terms.

The companies did not specify the value of the extended agreement.

The original agreement dates to Nov. 24, 2003.

SAN JOSE -- Arena Solutions and Symphony Consulting on Sept. 13 will release findings from a recent joint survey on manufacturing outsourcing challenges and best practices.

Over 800 manufacturers responded and results were "startling," the companies said in a press release. For example, research revealed that while 85% of manufacturers surveyed outsource part or all of their manufacturing operations, nearly two-thirds risk the associated cost-savings because they lack adequate control and processes.

The study results will be revealed in a free webinar Sept. 13 at 10 a.m. Pacific.

Arena senior vice president of operations and strategic development Mark Holman and Symphony co-founder and president Bijan Dastmalchi will host.

To register, visit arenaplm.com/forms/int_outsourcingwebinar_ma_07q3.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA -- BTU International and DEK International announced a partnership to provide complete in-line metallization process solutions to photovoltaic (PV) manufacturers.

The joint effort combines DEK's printing and handling technologies and BTU's drying and firing technologies to form a complete turnkey metallization line for solar cells.

BTU chairman and CEO Paul van der Wansem said in a statement, "Our goal is to offer our customers the lowest cost per watt process. The partnership with DEK will allow us to deliver powerful, total solutions to our global PV customers."

WASHINGTON — During the past 12 months, some 95 million working Americans, representing 82% of the workforce, received real wage gains, according to the National Association of Manufacturers’ Annual Labor Day Report, and manufacturing workers led the pack earning 30% more than the average wage for the private sector workforce.