SMT - Names in the News

Personnel, prices, and prizes topped the industry news this week, with announcements from the distribution, software, materials, and tooling and equipment sectors. Following are the news stories from Henkel, Milplex, Kyzen, Pulse, OPTEK and Digi-Key, Fairchild, Allied, ETEK, Valor, Universal Instruments, and PROMATION.

Henkel named a new executive team, following its acquisition of the Adhesives and Electronics Materials businesses from National Starch and Chemical Company. Under the direction of corporate senior VP Alan Syzdek, the electronics group of Henkel will be organized on a global basis by industry sector. Michael Todd, Ph.D., will lead Henkel's global product development initiatives as VP of product development and engineering. Some of Todd's near-term priorities include aligning the organization's 13 global product development sites, the integration of complementary technologies and products brought together through the acquisition, and leveraging certain materials to facilitate synergistic product growth. Former Ablestik GM Andreas Mader will head Henkel's semiconductor group, focusing on customer transition to new technologies, technical support, and managing investments in leading technologies. To direct its electronics assembly business, Henkel selected former Emerson & Cuming GM Joe DeBiase. Doug Dixon became the company's global marketing director. Management of the operational organization is the responsibility of Michael Reilly, Ph.D., former National Starch VP of global operations. Overseeing development through organic growth, strategic partnerships, and acquisition opportunities is ZhiWei Cai, formerly Henkel global VP of product management. Other appointments include Luc Godefroid, who heads up the Project Management Office (PMO); and Hilary Norris, who leads the company's financial team. To learn more, visit www.henkel.com/electronics.

In other staff appointments, Jerry Pariag joined the Milplex Circuit (Canada) Inc. team as national inside sales manager. He has more than 20 years of experience in PCB industry. At Milplex, he is responsible for all inside sales and customer service. For more information, visit www.milplexcircuit.com. Kyzen also named Serge Tuerlings as its European technical manager. Tuerlings will have broad responsibilities within the company's growing organization in Europe, and will be a key member of the leadership team, developing and implementing Kyzen's business plans for aggressive expansion throughout Europe. Learn more at www.kyzen.com.

Reflecting the rising costs of subcomponents, consumables, energy, and labor, Pulse, a Technitrol company, raised prices by 10% worldwide. The company is in the process of notifying all regions. For more information, visit www.pulseeng.com.

In distributor news, TT electronics OPTEK Technology presented Digi-Key Corporation with its first annual Distributor of the Year Award for outstanding performance in 2007. Digi-Key helped OPTEK grow its customer base by supporting new products and technology introductions in the marketplace, the company reported. Learn more at www.digikey.com and www.optekinc.com. Fairchild Semiconductor awarded Future Electronics Europe its "Distributor of the Year 2007" for outstanding point-of-sale (POS) revenue and operations management performance. This is the first time that Future Electronics Europe has received Fairchild's distributor award. See www.fairchildsemi.com to learn more.

Allied Electronics signed an agreement to distribute for AIM Solder in the Southwest U.S.. Allied now carries various AIM Solder products, including solder paste, wire solder, and bar solder lines. For more information, visit www.alliedelec.com and www.aimsolder.com. ETEK EUROPE LTD added the GSR stand-alone router machine, BEST EZReball preform-rework process, and Verifier HR (FSX-090) high-resolution/high-magnification X-ray system to its distribution service in Europe. For further details, e-mail sales@etek-europe.com.

USR Electronic Systems, a large contract manufacturer in Israel, selected vPlan enterprise-level process engineering software from Valor Computerized Systems Ltd. USR will start offering its customers DfM services using Valor's DfM technology and its Valor Part Library (VPL) service. To learn more, visit www.valor.com.

Catalyst Manufacturing Services, a full-service contract electronics manufacturer providing engineering, manufacturing, and technical support, purchased six turn-key production lines from Universal Instruments, including screen printers, reflow ovens, and 12 Genesis platforms. The complete lines will be installed over Catalyst's three manufacturing sites located in Endicott, N.Y.; Raleigh, N.C.; and Tijuana, Mexico. For more information, visit www.uic.com.

ASYS Inc. opened a second office in the U.S., located in Hillsboro, Ore. It currently operates in Atlanta, Ga., and is based in Dornstadt, Germany. The Ore. office has two service and application engineers on-site and stocks spare parts for all of the company's major metallization equipment. To learn more, see www.asys-group.com.

PROMATION recently completed the full integration of a progressive assembly line to assemble and build 500+ lb control cabinets. To create the desired solution, PROMATION's engineers integrated a variety of custom handling solutions. The solution included both power and non-power roller beds from HYTROL, with electrically controlled crossover sections (chain driven), integrated into "walk around" work section with custom overhead lighting systems, tool trolleys, racking, and operator controls. PROMATION incorporated air bladder systems for lift and rotate functions. Sensors are integrated into a custom control panel to monitor the production line status and ensure safety for product transfer. For details, see www.pro-mation-inc.com.

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