Author Archives: Mike

About Mike

Mike Buetow is president of the Printed Circuit Engineering Association (pcea.net). He previously was editor-in-chief of Circuits Assembly magazine, the leading publication for electronics manufacturing, and PCD&F, the leading publication for printed circuit design and fabrication. He spent 21 years as vice president and editorial director of UP Media Group, for which he oversaw all editorial and production aspects. He has more than 30 years' experience in the electronics industry, including six years at IPC, an electronics trade association, at which he was a technical projects manager and communications director. He has also held editorial positions at SMT Magazine, community newspapers and in book publishing. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois. Follow Mike on Twitter: @mikebuetow

PCs Gone, Flextronics Tries M&M

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Having jumped out of the PC ODM and camera modules markets, Flextronics is rushing headlong into the lower-volume but higher margin territory of M&M: military and medical.

The world’s second-largest EMS company today snatched up Stellar Microelectronics, another California-based manufacturer whose current run rate is about $100 million in revenue. (Given the relatively small size of Stellar, Flextronics did not have to disclose what it paid.)

It’s a little late to the party. Automotive has been going gangbusters for a year, and military and aerospace programs might actually start slipping.

Still, Flextronics is clearly banking on its size and financial strength as leverage to force its way into the M&M markets. It booked $300 million worth of new business in those areas over the past nine months, and expects growth in excess of 15% in that area in the coming year. Flextronics has set a a target operating margin of 4% (currently, the company is closer to 3%), and COO Paul Read told a Goldman Sachs investors conference that the company hopes to generate some 30% of its revenue from higher margin product in the coming years (up from 20% today). Given its size and ability to jump in and out of end-markets, Flextronics is becoming something of a General Electric of the EMS space.

Mexico’s ‘Other’ City

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While Guadalajara and Juarez get most of the press, the city of Saltillo, Mexico, has a lot going for it in terms of manufacturing capacity and infrastructure.

To that end, this podcast with Powerbrace Corp. hosted by The Offshore Group on the subject of establishing a manufacturing supplier base is worth a listen.

Although many manufacturers from the U.S. and other nations have production facilities in Saltillo, sometimes referred to as “Little Detroit,” not all of them take full advantage of the local Mexican supplier network that has grown in the city and the region over the last several decades.

Saltillo is apparently known for its technical expertise, with precision machine shops, foundries, steel mills, heat treating facilities and powder coating operations, plastic injection molding and other services. Saltillo also is home to 19 technical and 14 vocational schools.

IPC Apex Expo Recap

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I’ll be taking questions and comments on IPC Apex Expo today from 2 to 3 pm over at PCB Chat.

Also, Kal Kawar will take questions on MSDS tracking and environmental regulations on March 8* from 2 to 3 pm EST.

*The date has changed to March 8 from March 6.

ODB ‘Partners’ Up

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After the IPC-2581 Consortium was founded to support the move from Gerber, it was only a matter of time before Mentor responded with a similar group to push its own format, ODB++.

Today, that measure was officially announced, with some 18 companies among the initial partners in what is being called the ODB++ Solutions Alliance.

Astute readers will notice many of the same companies are publicly supporting both formats. It will be interesting to see how that unfolds, given concerns by some of Mentor’s competitors about the advantage it gains with its hold on the ODB++ format.