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Fab News

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Fab News; Published: 14 May 2009

VIENNA, AUSTRIA -- AT&S sales fell by 7.4% to €449.9 million ($610.7 million) for the year ending March 31, 2009. Sales declined in the fourth quarter 15.9% sequentially.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Fab News; Published: 14 May 2009

ESPOO, FINLAND -- Aspocomp Oulu Oy and the headquarter operations of Aspocomp Group reported first-quarter sales down 36.5% year-over-year. For the quarter ended March 31, net sales were €3.3 million ($4.47 million).

In addition to operations in Finland, Aspocomp Group has a 20% stake in the joint venture Meadville Aspocomp (BVI) Holdings Limited. In late 2008, Meadville reduced head-count in Suzhou. In March 2009, the company started to re-hire at the Suzhou plant in response to improved market demand and in anticipation of the scheduled China 3G launch in May.

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Fab News; Published: 13 May 2009

GHENT, BELGIUM – Ucamco reports that its front-end engineering throughput has increased up to 30%, following the launch of its new PCB CAM productivity service.

Based around advanced remote-access software, the service provides secure access to a customer’s workstation, no matter where it is located. The company’s software support engineers are able to observe and to record the complete data preparation process for several jobs. Based on UCAM software and industry best practices, a report is generated with suggested process changes and itemized timesavings.

New features can be downloaded to the customer’s workstation through the remote-access software, and online training is provided.

“Our reports quantify the specific benefits to be gained before the customer commits his cash,” says Filip Vermeire, head of software customer care. “The first audits we have done for customers have shown productivity increases up to 90% for specific operations and up to 30% overall.”

Details: Written by Staff; Category: Fab News; Published: 12 May 2009

FRASER, MI -- K&F Electronics has acquired Ultima Circuits of Sacramento, CA effective May 1, 2009. Financial details were not disclosed.

K&F Electronics will assume Ultima Circuits’ customer base. Brad Gerdes, one of the owners of Ultima, has entered into a long-term agreement with K&F Electronics and will be responsible for the transition of Ultima customers to K&F.

In 2008 K&F Electronics was named one of the “50 Companies to Watch” by the Edward Lowe Foundation and was recognized in 1997 as Michigan’s “Best Small Business of the Year.”

OSHKOSH, WI – Multicircuits has promoted Michael Thiel to director of engineering and operations. It has also named Jerry Smith director of sales.

Thiel will be responsible for the overall business strategy and management of engineering, quality, manufacturing, R&D, finance and HR. He has worked for Multicircuits for 18 years and has extensive experience in systems development.

Smith will oversee all aspects of sales and marketing. He brings over 20 years of experience in the PCB industry. Prior to joining Multicircuits, Smith was the vice president and general manager of Hamlet & Smith Inc. He will work in cooperation with Thiel.

TAIPEI, TAIWAN – The launch of Consumer Ultra Low Voltage (CULV)–based notebooks is looking good for HannStar Board. The company expects to see second-quarter PCB shipments up 25% to 30% sequentially to 15 million to 16 million units, reports DigiTimes.

This year, HannStar wants to ship 62 million to 67 million notebooks, a 10% on-year increase. It reports that netbook shipments will increase 18% from last year.

The company is setting its sights on a 40% global share of the HDI notebook board market, with HDI board capacity scheduled to expand 150,000 square feet by August, says DigiTimes.