CircuiTree articles from April 2003

CircuiTree archives from April 2003

Letters.(Letter to the Editor)
April 1, 2003... Strong Dollar Policy & the Effect on Manufacturing: An Open Letter to Senator Levin I am writing to express my strong disagreement with the government's strong dollar policy. Our company has been in the electronics manufacturing industry...

Rethinking globalization. (The Way we See it).(Editorial)
April 1, 2003... In early February, members of California's printed circuit community dined together the night before they lobbied Sacramento on behalf of the state's struggling electronics industry. The chicken, while good, was not half as interesting as the...

Phototools on the move: dimensional changes; protecting your phototools from irreversible dimensional changes is not that difficult--you just have to know what to look for.
April 1, 2003... In an ideal world your phototools would bring a design from your CAD/CAM station, through the photo plotter, through the photo resist, to the copper or to the solder mask without any distortion. Unfortunately the ideal world does not exist. ...

As their parents leave the country, the orphan chemical machiners worry. (Fein-Lines).
April 1, 2003... Much of the PWB industry is migrating to China. We have all heard it so often it makes us want to scream. Twenty years ago it was moving to Japan; ten years ago it was moving to Taiwan. Now it is China. Perhaps in ten years it will be India or...

Camtek. (People).(appoints Don Ivancovich)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Migdal Ha'Emek, Israel--Camtek Ltd. appointed Don Ivancovich West Coast Sales Manager. Don will be responsible for sales of Camtek's AOI and direct imaging products in Calif., Ariz., Colo., Wash., and Ore. Don has been Service/Application...

Chemcut Corp. (People).(appoints Betz & Company and Barry Reish)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... State College, PA--Chemcut Corp. appointed Betz & Company (Hamden, CT) as its exclusive sales representative for the New England states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, plus the Long Island counties...

CMK. (People).(Takahiro Nakayama appointed chief operating officer)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Tokyo, Japan--Japanese PCB giant CMK Corp. appointed Takahiro Nakayama as chief operating officer. Nakayama graduated from Meisei University in 1982 and joined CMK in 1983. In November 2002 he was appointed vice president of the company. The...

Polyclad Laminates. (People).(Edward J. Kelley appointed OEM Marketing Manager)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Londonderry, NH--Edward J. Kelley has been appointed OEM Marketing Manager, Polyclad Laminates Inc. by Cookson Electronics PWB Materials & Chemistry. He will have global responsibilities for OEM marketing and Equipment Manufacturing (EM)...

Electro Scientific Industries. (People).(Clive McGovern named European Regional Manager)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Portland, OR--Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) Inc. named Clive McGovern as European Regional Manager. McGovern joined ESI as Regional Sales Manager in January 2001. Prior to joining ESI, McGovern was general manager of Litton Precision...

PXI Systems. (People).(new appointments )(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... San Diego, CA--The PXI Systems Alliance (PXISA), a global non-profit organization dedicated to developing and promoting PXI technology, has named Teradyne Marketing Manager Bob Stasonis as its president and Geotest President Loofie Gutterman as...

Nam Tai Electronics. (People).(Oshik Kong named Sales and Marketing Director)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Vancouver, BC--Nam Tai Electronics Inc. appointed Oshik Kong as Nam Tai's Sales and Marketing Director for further business expansion. Kong will be responsible for marketing and business development. He has over 24 years of sales and marketing...

Tektronix. (People).(Amad Doratotaj hired as the new Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Beaverton, OR--Tektronix Inc. hired Amad Doratotaj as the new Vice President of Worldwide Manufacturing. In his new role, Doratotaj is responsible for worldwide manufacturing operations, supply chain management, and manufacturing engineering,...

Sacramento day concludes; now real work begins.
April 1, 2003... Sacramento, CA--On February 5th, members of the California Circuits Association (IPC), in coordination with the IPC, lobbied California's Assemblymen and Senators on behalf of the state's struggling PCB industry. Dick Crowe, the CCA's executive...

Strategies for recapturing obsolete circuit board inventory: printed engineering changes offer a cost-effective and reliable means to rework large volumes of obsolete PCBs.(Printed circuit boards)
April 1, 2003... Rework. The word itself conjures the sound of flushing money down the drain. Regardless of the cause--manufacturing defect, assembly defect, design defect, or engineering change--the object is minimization. Improved design software, automated...

MP&M victory. (Environmentally Speaking).(Environmental Protection Agency signs final regulation on Metal Products and Machinery effluent limitation guidelines)
April 1, 2003... On Feb. 14, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Christine Todd Whitman signed a final regulation on Metal Products and Machinery (MP&M) effluent limitation guidelines. The final regulation is substantially different from the...

Test fixture companies join forces. (Suppliers).(Circuit Check Inc. and Southwest Test Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Maple Grove, MN--Circuit Check Inc. (CCI) acquired Southwest Test Inc. Under the terms of the acquisition, CCI will purchase the operating assets and liabilities of Southwest Test. This combination will create the largest fixture manufacturer...

Lloyd Doyle announce distributors in China. (Suppliers).(Nidec-Read and Vagus Technologies)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Walton-on-Thames, UK--Lloyd Doyle appointed two sales representatives for the Chinese PCB manufacturing territory. Nidec-Read and Vagus Technologies will represent the AOT company on a non-exclusive basis effective immediately. Nidec-Read is...

GIL Technologies to license laminate technology. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... GIL Technologies is actively seeking to license high performance laminate and manufacturing process technology. To focus on technology licensing and development, GIL has ceased all manufacturing operations effective February 2003. Customers,...

Shipley, Copper to Copper form partnership. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Marlborough, MA--Shipley Company LLC announced a partnership with Copper to Copper (C2C) to expand Shipley's North American PWB offerings. Shipley will become the exclusive distributor of C2C lamination foils for use in the lamination process...

Ceco distributing PCK. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Ceco Industries announced its exclusive agreement with equipment manufacturer PCK srl to distribute the PCK equipment line throughout North America and China. The new line includes the FB 030 Inner Layer Bonding Machine; the SP 720 Mylar...

ESI opens Taiwanese office. (Suppliers).(Electro Scientific Industries)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Hsinchu, Taiwan--Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) Inc. opened an expanded office in Jubei City, Hsinchu, Taiwan. This new facility aligns ESI closer with its Asian customers and will be a centralized center for supporting new technologies...

Uyemura, RBP Chemical confirm agreement. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Ontario, CA--Uyemura announced an agreement with RBP Chemical Technology (Milwaukee, WI). RBP will sell Uyemura and MEC chemistries to RBP's U.S. customer base. UIC's sales and service group will support RBP's efforts and customers. This...

WISE reports 7% revenue increase. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Newberg, OR--WISE Software Solutions Inc. announced that annual revenues for 2002 were up 7% over 2001. WISE attributes the continued growth to increases in its OEM business from the manufacturing market segment; however, the release of...

Viking Test Services sells more 'Emmas'. (Suppliers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Viking Test Services sold another Emma ELX6146 high speed test system to both HMGCC (Her Majesties Government Communications Center), and WH Circuit CC (Cape Town, South Africa). HMGCC chose the Emma for its extreme versatility and ability to...

IDCT announces test results, sales. (Suppliers).(drill bits)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Torrance, CA--Tests on IDCT Microdrilling Systems' 275K RPM spindle point to greatly reduced drill bit consumption. Initial results indicate that carbide drill bits can last from two to four times as long due to reduced vibration and run-out,...

HKPCA, IPC to launch 2003 International Printed Circuit and electronics assembly fair.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Hong Kong--With the success of its 2002 South China International Printed Circuit & Equipment Fair, the HKPCA received numerous enquiries relating to the possible participation by electronics assembly companies in the 2003 show. In view of the...

Mild upturn in early 2003 but global uncertainties prevail. (Market Outlook).(computer hardware sector)(Industry Overview)(Column)
April 1, 2003... January electronic equipment and PCB orders brought some guarded smiles. Based upon the "early-warning" Durable Goods release, U.S. "Computers & Electronic Product" orders (Chart 1) jumped 3.2% over December 2002 and 2.8% versus last January....

Cheshire Circuits acquires Cranford Circuits. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Stockport, UK--Cheshire Circuits announced it acquired fellow PCB maker Cranford Circuits. The combined company is now called Cheshire Cranford Electronics Europe, and employs approximately 90 people. Chesire Circuit's managing director, David...

Toppan PCB plant closes in San Diego. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Tokyo, Japan--Toppan Printing Co. closed its San Diego, Calif., PCB plant at the end of March, laying off all 270 employees. The company sited a struggling electronics market as reason for the closure. Production orders will be transferred to...

OC Alphanetics granted new Military spec. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Santa Ana, CA--OC Alphanetics Inc. announced it was granted the Military Qualification MIL-PRF-55110F, Appendix A QPL Product Assurance Level for FR4 and Polymide Material Classification Type 3 by the DSCC-VQE. The PCB maker is also registered...

Endicott, FASTechnologies announce installation. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Big Lake, MN--FASTechnologies Corp. and Endicott Interconnect Technologies announced the installation of a DNC system and SmartParts Monitoring Server, a web-based drill and router monitoring system at Endicott facility. The system delivers NC...

Ruwel looks for U.S. reps, fab partners. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Despite PCB factory closures and reduced capacity in North America, Ruwel believes the region is still strong, and that demand for PCBs will increase in the next few years. As the company's CEO, Wilfried Sehner, said, "America is part of our...

PCC opens new assembly line. (Fabrication).(Printed Circuits Corp.)(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Atlanta, GA--Printed Circuits Corp. (PCC) opened a fine pitch surface mount and through hole production line. The assembly line complements PCC's quick-turn multilayer PCB fabrication line. From Gerber to finished assembly in two weeks is...

M~Wave, CEE sign three-year deal. (Fabrication).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... West Chicago, IL--M~Wave, Inc. announced that CE Electronics (CEE) (Bryan, OH) signed a three-year supply chain management agreement with M~Wave utilizing its virtual manufacturing business unit. CEE is a contract manufacturer, providing PCB...

They might be giants: Cisco's PCB group reveals how the San Jose-based networking giant selects its suppliers, and what the future holds for 2003.(Cisco Systems Inc)(Interview)(Company Profile)
April 1, 2003... An Interview with Cisco's PCB Group In one of the most challenging periods that the networking giant has ever faced, Cisco Systems exceeded Wall Street's expectations in February by posting $4.7 billion in net sales, and an operating cash...

DDi continues 'operational, financial restructuring'.
April 1, 2003... Anaheim, CA -- DDi Corp. announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2002. The company reported net sales for the fourth quarter of 2002 of $63.9 million, nearly flat compared with sales of $64.5...

Fine lines in high yield (part XCI): AOI applications--the roads less traveled. (Tech Talk).(automated optical inspection)(Industry Overview)
April 1, 2003... PWB fabricators in the U.S. typically use AOI (automated optical inspection) to inspect circutized innerlayers and outerlayers (double-sided boards and multilayer boards). Other applications are rare but may be common place in other regions,...

Coherent introduces diode-pumped solid-state 266 nm laser. (Products).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Santa Clara, CA--Coherent Inc. introduced the AVIA 266-3000, the industry's highest power, longest lifetime, Q-switched, diode-pumped, all-solid-state, 266 nm laser. The AVJA 266-3000 produces 3W of 266 nm light at 30 kHz making it ideal for a...

Agfa launches Vivaldi2 phototooling film. (Products).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Mortsel, Belgium--Agfa unveiled Vivaldi2, the latest advanced phototooling film for the manufacture of PCBs. Vivaldi2 helps PCB manufacturers and service bureaus create phototools with exceptional image quality, precise line width control,...

Chemcut announces new wet processing equipment product line. (Products).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... College Park, PA--Chemcut Corp. introduced the Chemcut 2002 Etcher as part of its new wet processing equipment product line. Designed to meet the needs of fine line etching, the Chemcut 2002 transports fiberglass cores down to 2 mil and flex...

Heraeus introduces F10 no-clean solder paste. (Products).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... West Conshohocken, PA-Heraeus Inc., Circuit Materials Division, introduced F10, a high-performance no-clean LO solder paste with exceptional solderability and printability. F10 has been shown to produce reductions in defect rates and to improve...

Schmid announces contact-free transport. (Products).
April 1, 2003... Freudenstadt, Germany--Schmid introduced wet process lines with a contact-free transport. With this system, fine conductor structures

Bohemian rhapsody.(European Institute of Printed Circuits to hold annual Spring Conference in Prague, Czech Republic)
April 1, 2003... The title of this article has nothing to do with a song by Queen, more to do with an overture to an event which is relevant to our times. For those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere of this planet, the month of February is rather a...

A review of IPC International Symposium on Flexible Circuits and Chip Scale Packaging. (Flexible Thinking).
April 1, 2003... The inaugural IPC International Symposium on Flexible Circuits and Chip Scale Packaging was held in Tempe, Arizona, on February 11-12, 2003, and was by my measure a significant success given the continuing weakness of both the industry and the...

Internepcon World Japan: in many, one.
April 1, 2003... Internepcon World Japan was held from January 22-24, 2003 in Tokyo, Japan. This show, which is one of the largest electronics related shows in Asia, actually consists of six different exhibitions; the 32nd Internepcon Japan, the 20th...

Flextronics awards seven top suppliers. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Singapore--Flextronics announced awarding seven top suppliers with its 2002 Global Supplier Performance Award. The company awarded suppliers who provided world-class support in the areas of quality, total cost, global account management, supply...

Photon Dynamics to exit PCB assembly market. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... San Jose, CA--Photon Dynamics Inc. announced it will exit the printed circuit assembly business. It also said that Elwood Spedden succeeded Vincent Sollitto as the company's president and CEO. The electronics company reported a net loss of $25...

Plexus, Next Level form agreement. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Rohnert Park, CA--Next Level Communications selected Plexus Corp. as its primary provider of electronic manufacturing services. Plexus will manufacture, and assist in engineering and design support of the company's network access equipment,...

Sanmina CFO: no more closures in 2003. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... San Jose, CA--Sanmina-SCI Corp.'s CFO Rick Ackel said the EMS giant does not plan further factory closings this year. However, Ackel left the door open for further cuts if the economy does not improve. In other news, Sanmina and Novacept...

Solectron, H-P ink deal. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Milpitas, CA--Solectron Corp. signed a manufacturing and supply agreement with Hewlett-Packard Co. worth $1.4 billion over five years. In its Puerto Rico plant, Solectron will make PCBs and memory modules for H-P's enterprise servers.

Suntron, UMD Technology form partnership. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... Phoenix, AZ--Suntron Corp. formed a partnership with UMD Technology to provide engineering services focused on RF/Wireless, medical and electronics commerce. The companies will work to accelerate the introduction of advanced service offerings...

Viasystems emerges from bankruptcy. (Board Buyers).(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... St. Louis, MO--Viasystems Group Inc. and Viasystems Inc. announced that the companies completed their previously announced recapitalization and have emerged from their prepackaged bankruptcy process. Completion of the financial recapitalization...

Foolish things I have, or have not done. (Seeing the Light).(one man's career in the laser technology industry)(Column)
April 1, 2003... I know this column is supposed to be about lasers, and to some extent I try to touch on laser subjects, but every year around April, I think of foolishness. I am sure that there is a deep and hidden meaning to the fact that we celebrate...

Uyemure hosts technical seminar.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... On January 21, Uyemura USA (UIC) hosted a regional technical seminar in Connecticut for the New York and New England area facilities. Despite extremely cold temperatures, there were no cancellations. UIC was pleased to host attendees from such...

Chemical sensors and measurement in process control. (Happy Thoughts).
April 1, 2003... In the October issue of CircuiTree, I discussed "The Need For Statistical Tools" when dealing with process controls, and I also emphasized the "human element" (CircuiTree, October 2002, p. 78]. Now we begin a three-part series on chemical...

Events.(Brief Article)
April 1, 2003... April 22-24, 2003 IPC/JEDEC International Conference on Lead-Free Electronic Assemblies and Components San Jose, CA Visit www.ipc.org May 14-16, 2003 PROTEC Japan Makuhari Messe (Nippon Convention Center) ...