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.

DALLAS -- Jack Kilby, whose invented the integrated circuit in 1958 and later shared in the Nobel Prize, died Monday of cancer. He was 81.

At Texas Instruments in 1958, Kilby built the first IC into a single piece of semiconducting material half the size of a paper clip. Kilby also co-invented the handheld electronic calculator that made TI a household name.

TORONTO -- SMTC Corp. will build assemblies for Leitch Technology in a deal worth an estimated annualized run rate of $20 million.

SMTC will provide electronics manufacturing services for Leitch, a maker of high-end video systems.

Under the terms of the agreement, SMTC will initially provide complete manufacturing services to Leitch at its new product introduction center in Markham, Ontario, and its facility in Chihuahua, Mexico.

In a statement, SMTC senior vice president of business development Steve Hoffrogge said the "transition ... is well underway, with full roll out of the initial phases expected in the third and fourth quarters of the year."