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SURREY, ENGLAND – According to a quarterly survey by BPA Consulting, the PCB industry isn’t showing signs of improving any time soon.

ST. LOUIS -- Viasystems reported first-quarter sales dropped 31.6% from a year ago to $123.4 million as demand for automotive and telecom PCBs plunged.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – A host of trade groups today released a guide detailing the minimum requirements for material declaration in accordance with the EU REACH regulations.

The Consumer Electronics Association, DigitalEurope, JGPSSI and IPC jointly announced the release of Joint Industry Guide – Material Composition Declaration for Electrotechnical Products.

JIG-101 Ed. 2.0 is a materials declaration guide said to facilitate reporting of material content information across the global electrotechnical supply chain. The document encompasses the latest regulatory requirements, including the REACH directive. The guide focuses on the substances to declare.

It is available for free download from at www.ipc.org/jig-101.

AUSTIN, TX — First quarter global TV shipments declined 6% year-over-year to 43.3 million units, down 25% sequentially on seasonal trends.

SAN JOSE -- Calling the smart grid's potential "100 or 1,000 times larger than the Internet," Cisco Systems today announced plans to roll out a series of routers and switches aimed at controlling electrical use across the nation's energy networks and into homes.

The market for communications equipment for electrical infrastructure use could be worth $100 billion, Cisco says.

Cisco notes that the nation's energy grids can be fragmented and slow to respond, and that there is a tremendous need for electricity monitoring and optimization.

President Obama's stimulus plan budgeted $11 billion for smart grids; Cisco believes that market will be worth some $20 billion market in five years.

SANTA CLARA, CA – Agilent Technologies Inc. reported second-quarter sales fell 25% from last year to $1.09 billion. Orders dropped 33% year-over-year.