Ewaste recycling becoming profitable

Industry is finally taking notice that recycling electronic waste is good for the environment, and also is good for business.  The global e-waste market grew 10 percent in 2010, and is  expected to grow for rest of the decade. Collection services are expected to triple by 2020. Ewaste is estimated to comprise less than 3% of the world’s total solid waste, yet is receiving a lot of attention due to its toxicity and its rapid growth.

Synopsys to acquire Magma

Synopsys will acquire Magma for approximately $507 million net of cash and debt acquired.  Synopsys, which provides software and IP used in the design, verification and manufacture of electronic components and systems, is set to acquire Magma Design Automation, a provider of chip design software.  When asked about the acquisition, Synopsys said "this acquisition will enable Synopsys to accelerate the delivery of the technology our customers need to keep the overall cost of design in check."

Read the Synopsys press release here: http://synopsys.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=982

Find cross references for electronic components

SiliconExpert’s has launched a new part search tool to identify crosses for more than 185 million electronic components. Cross references are grouped into distinct categories, with upgrades and downgrades identified.  Users can select up to 42 attributes per product.  The tool finds the number of crosses available for each part alongside the part number and lists the similarities with the original part.  Similarities are categorized into three levels.  No differences, minor differences, and major differences. 

The tools also offers parts at risk and lifecycle statuses, multi-sourcing, available inventory, and environmental compliance data such as REACH, RoHS, and the WEEE directives. Certificates of Compliance (CoCs), Material Declarations and Product Change Notifications (PCNs) are also listed.

Pricing information is not available online, but is an annual subscription based on the number of users.



http://www.siliconexpert.com/products/part-search

Rebuilding America’s Electronics Industry

Printed Circuit Design & Fab offer up a formula for returning the electronics manufacturing industry to America, covering how to the number one problem with the American economy is that its manufacturing jobs have been outsourced to cheap labor markets overseas, and that bringing it back to the United States is the solution. The article discusses how to achieve this, the current debate, and how to greater the range and diversity of the electronic manufacturing industry.

Check it out here: http://pcdandf.com/cms/component/content/article/171-current-issue/8567-business-management

1-Source Publishes "Encyclopedia"

The new "encyclopedia" is a bare-bones glossary of electrical component terms, that is billed as providing information, updates, and component visuals. The glossary has two sections, Active Devices and Passive Devices. The Active Devices section includes Capacitors, Diodes, Hybrid Integrated Circuits, Integrated Circuits, Magnetic Devices, Power Sources, Semiconductors and Transistor and The Passive Devices section includes Connectors, Resistors, Resonators, and Transducers. Literally, that's it. It has a page for each term and a "definition." Not sure who is going to be using this. Good luck trying to find it too. It's not even promoted on their own website.

Arrow enables engineers to design LED products

Arrow Electronics has introduced an application that helps engineers design complete LED lighting products.

The Lighting Designer features built-in design guidelines combining tools for selecting and optimizing products, adding secondary optics, defining the power supply and selecting and laying out a design.

In addition to LED product and system data, the tool offers several LED system options, such as the recommended, highest efficacy, and ,least expensive solutions; after selecting an option, engineers can see alternatives and the roi for transitioning from traditional lighting.

Visit the lighting designer at http://web.transim.com/arrow/lighting/led/Widget.aspx

Senators moving on DoD counterfeit parts law

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Senator Carl Levin and the committee’s top Republican, Arizona Senator John McCain, spoike on the Senate floor about the amendment they want to add to this year’s defense bill to crack down on the millions of fake parts that wind up in military gear.

The Department of Homeland Security would be charged with inspecting shipments “from any country determined by the Secretary of Defense to be a signifiant source of counterfeit parts” — a.k.a., China. DoD and its vendors would be required to buy from “original equipment manufacturers, authorized dealers or from trusted suppliers who meet establish standards for detecting and avoiding."

Levin’s bill also would toughen criminal sentences for counterfeit “military goods and services;” require vendors to notify DoD when they discover fakes; and require DoD itself to define all the new rules of engagement for its suppliers.

Suppliers would need to bear the cost when they or the services discover fakes in their equipment.

CTS to acquire Valpey-Fisher for $18 million

CTS Corporation has agreed to buy Valpey-Fisher Corporation, which manufactures frequency-control electronics, for about $18 million in cash. Valpey-Fisher's sales in the last four reported quarters total approximately $15 million.

With the sale CTS will acquire the design and manufacturing of precision crystal oscillators including higher frequency, lower phase noise timing solutions, high performance RF/Microwave components, integrated modules and ultrasonic transducers serving telecommunications, computer, defense and aerospace, instrumentation and industrial markets.

Read the press release here

Carlisle to Acquire Tri-Star

Carlisle Cos Inc said it will acquire the electronic interconnect components maker Tri-Star Electronics International from private equity firm Brockway Moran & Partners for $285 million.  Tri-Star, with annual sales of about $95 million, will operate as part of Carlisle Interconnect Technologies.
Read the full press release

New "Authorized-Only" Inventory Search Site

The Electronic Components Industry Association, ECIA , has launched a new industry-owned electronic component parts search web site, www.eciaauthorized.com as part of the association's fight against counterfeit parts. 

All distributors represented on the site are ECIA members and are authorized channel partners with their manufacturers. The site only lists inventory that is genuine and backed by the manufacturer's warranty.  The distributors represented on the site include many of the largest national and international full-line distributors as well as more specialized regional firms with focused product lines. 

Free Data Converters Seminars from Avnet and TI

Avnet is offering a free technical seminar series focused on data converters. Taught by technical specialists from Avnet and Texas Instruments, these classes are intended to provide engineers at all levels with a methodology to more easily navigate the entire data converter ecosystem. The seminars run through the middle of December with stops in California, Arizona, Massachusetts, Minnesota and New Jersey. Registration is open now at www.em.avnet.com/TIDC2011.

audio video connectors

Newark/element14 offers buyers and design and maintenance engineers a comprehensive range of over 1,200 Audio and Video Connectors, splitters and adaptors including XLR, DIN, RCA and Phono types from manufacturers such as Swithcraft, ITT Cannon, and more.

Molex transfers 3D electronics to medical devices

Molex is now molding complex, three-dimensional electronic components for medical applications.  Called MediSpec, the focus of the Molex capability is on the Laser Direct Structuring (LDS) process developed by LPKF (Garbsen, Germany).  Molex will display the new technology at D&M Minneapolis.

The MediSpec MID/LDS technology has multiple applications including blood glucose meters, drug delivery systems, home healthcare telemetry, remote patient monitoring systems, disposable catheter interfaces, neurostimulation controllers, pulse oximeter sensors, CPAP devices and RFID solutions.

Find more information on the MediSpec MID/LDS capabilities.

Circuit Protection Components to be Next Market Driver

According to TTI power and current surges, imparted on electronic systems by load switching, lightning discharges and electrostatic discharges are to blame for billions of dollars of failed equipment. To battle against these dangers both government and private agencies have mandated the inclusion of overvoltage and overcurrent protection components in circuit boards produced today and has spawned a $5.3 billion market.

Read their description of the types of components used for their overvoltage and overcurrent protection capabilities in modern electronics here.

Research and Markets 2012 U.S. Semi-Conductor & Electronic Components Mfg. Report Now Available

Research and Markets announced the publication of their Barnes Reports' 2012 U.S. Semi-Conductor & Electronic Components Mfg. Report containing industry statistics, forecasts and demographics.

The report features 2012 current and 2013 forecast estimates on the size of the industry (sales, establishments, employment) nationally and for all 50 U.S. States and over 900 metro areas. New to the report this year are: financial ratios, number of firms and payroll estimates.

The report also includes industry definition, 5-year historical trends on industry sales, establishments and employment, a breakdown of establishments, sales and employment by employee size of establishment (9 categories), and estimates on up to 10 sub-industries, including circuits, microwave components, commutators, solenoids and transducers.

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3fc50c/2012_u_s_semicon

New medical application site from Mouser

Mouser announced the launch of its second Medical Applications Product Knowledge Center training site devoted to medical therapies.

The site includes block diagram navigation, part lists, resources, videos, and featured products for the targeted therapies: Hearing aids, infusion pumps, and CPAP machines.

Visit the site at: www.mouser.com/medical_therapy.

 

New Arcolectric switches are the first antimicrobial components

Arcolectric has announces a new range of antimicrobial switches launched as part of a partnership with BioCote, a provider of antimicrobial technology.

The switches will be manufactured with BioCote’s silver ion technology during the moulding process to produce the world’s first antimicrobial electronic components.

Integrating BioCote at the point of manufacture provides in-built antimicrobial protection for the life span of the component part, reducing microbes including bacteria mould and fungi by up to 99.9%.

Read more here.

NDSU Develops Laser-Enabled Electronic Packaging

A new electronics manufacturing technology developed at North Dakota State University eliminates challenges facing conventional packaging techniques and shows promise to significantly reduce the size and unit cost of microelectronic devices. The technology, called Laser-Enabled Advanced Packaging has the potential to enable high-volume handling, placement and interconnection of microelectronic components smaller than ever before possible.

Recently the NDSU researchers successfully implemented the technology to fabricate the first-ever functional electronic device with a laser-assembled, ultra-thin silicon chip embedded in a flexible substrate.

A key part ois the patent-pending process, Thermo-Mechanical Selective Laser Assisted Die Transfer. This process selectively and rapidly places ultra-thin (<50 µm) semiconductor chips at specific locations and orientations with high precision.

Learn more about this process at the NDSU Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering.

The Electronics Industry in Southeast Asia

Report Linker has posted a new study covering export and manufacturing trends in Southeast Asia.  The study provides an analysis on the performance, size and growth opportunities. Key segments covered in this study include Semiconductors (ICs) , consumer electronics, electronic components, peripherals, personal computers, HDD, and storage . The study focuses on three countries Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.

Read the study here:  http://www.reportlinker.com/p0657634/Assessment-of-Electronics-Industry-in-Southeast-Asia.html

UK Electronics Alliance Counterfeit Component Survey

In an attempt to measure the size of the counterfeit problem for UK businesses the UKEA has released a survey. All responses are entirely confidential. The UKEA is not asking for contact details and they will be unable to see who has responded as each response carries only a date and time stamp.

If you are only able to cite one example of counterfeiting, please complete this survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/2FSG7QG.

If you are able to cite, multiple examples of counterfeiting, please complete this survey http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/M6X3BJB.

Vehicle failures due to electronic components increasing yearly

Electronic components are involved in nearly half of all emergency assistance calls, often coming from screws, microscopic contamination particles on interconnects regularly cause failures in control units. As a result, components costing only a few cents are responsible for costs amounting to several hundred dollars.

The Cleancon concept developed by Arnold Umformtechnik creates a solution and represents a milestone in avoiding vehicle failures due to electronic components. A combination of the systematic coordination of all parameters affecting the cleanliness of components, cleanliness-oriented production, microcleaning and low-friction coating, and packaging of fastening components under cleanroom conditions allows substantially better cleanliness figures to be achieved.

More information is available at http://www.arnold-umformtechnik.de

HEICO to Acquire Switchcraft

HEICO Corporation today announced that its Electronic Technologies Group entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Switchcraft, Inc. through the purchase of all of the stock of Switchcraft's parent company, Switchcraft Holdco. Inc., from its management and other private equity ownership under financial terms which were not disclosed.

Read the full press release here. 

Northwestern Scientists Develop New Nanomaterial that can Steer Electrical Currents

The Northwestern team has made reconfigurable electronic materials: materials that can rearrange themselves to meet different computational needs at different times. This development could lead to a computer that can simply reconfigure its internal wiring and become an entirely different device, based on changing needs.

"Our new steering technology allows use to direct current flow through a piece of continuous material," said Bartosz A. Grzybowski, who led the research. "Like redirecting a river, streams of electrons can be steered in multiple directions through a block of the material -- even multiple streams flowing in opposing directions at the same time."

The Northwestern material combines different aspects of silicon- and polymer-based electronics to create a new classification of electronic materials: nanoparticle-based electronics.

The study, in which the authors report making preliminary electronic components with the hybrid material, is available at the the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

TE Now on S&P 500

Keep an eye on shares of  TE Connectivity (NYSE:TEL). Late yesterday, Standard & Poor's said TE Connectivity would join the S&P 500 index following the close of trading on Friday.

It will replace Cephalon (NASDAQ:CEPH) which is due to be acquired by Teva Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:TEVA).

Free October 26th Freescale Webinar Xtrinsic Sensor Solutions

Xtrinsic Sensor Solutions: Unlocking Applications with Optimal Sensing Technologies

Wednesday, October 26 at 12 PM CDT


Learn about next generation Xtrinsic sensor products and applications from a Freescale engineer. Q&A to follow the 45 minute presentation.

Join Freescale's Michelle Kelsey, from Magnetic Sensors, who will introduce you to a new world of sensing possibilities: 

• Develop an understanding of the Xtrinsic Sensor portfolio, terminology and market trends, and features being implemented in applications.
• Xtrinsic Sensor products and features.
• Learn about the broad suite of sensor development tools & enablement software that will get your designs to market faster, with better performance and at a lower cost.
• Learn about how Freescale’s Xtrinsic Sensor products can enhance your applications, reduce power consumption for green initiatives, and save overall system costs.

 Register here

Allied Releases 2012 Catalog

The 2012 catalog shows more than 12,000 new products from more than 300 suppliers.  What's especially nice to see is the new catalog meets the sustainable forestry initiative certification, meaning all paper used in the catalog was obtained from the SFI program, which integrates the perpetual growing and harvesting of trees with the protection of wildlife, plants, soil, water and air quality.
To request a free copy of the 2012 Allied Catalog, visit www.alliedelec.com/2012Catalog.

Find a Connector

Choosing the right electrical connector may be one of the most important interconnection decisions to make in a product’s design.

Newark connectors offers a pictorial index / selector guide of connectors they distribute. Shop by representative products, type, manufacturer, cable styles, tubing, accessories as well as options to consider. 

The guide should help designers modularize, downsize, and improve manufacturability and field maintenance for a variety of applications.

http://www.newark.com/jsp/bespoke/bespoke7.jsp?bespokepage=newark/en_US/landing/connector/index.html&MER=PB_N_C_ConnectorAccessories_ConnectSelect

Fiber Optic Connector Identifier

In the development of fiber optic technology over the last 30 years, many companies and individuals have invented the "better mousetrap" - a fiber optic connector that was lower loss, lower cost, easier to terminate or solved some other perceived problem. In all, about 100 fiber optic connectors have been introduced to the marketplace, but only a few represent the majority of the market. The Fiber Optic Association has created a rundown of the connectors that have been the leaders of the industry.

http://www.thefoa.org/tech/connID.htm 

Instructable: Recyling PCB Components

Awesome instructable showing how to recycle, by desoldering, all your old PCB components step by step.  Requires:

• Set of pliers (For different size of components)
• Soldering iron
• Vice grip
• Case for the desoldered components

Organizing Electronic Components

Sourceforge offers an asset tracker http://asset-tracker.sourceforge.net to help you organize your electronic components.  Lets you inventory all of your components, and perform a quick search for the component you're looking for to where you located the component.  You can even enter basic specs for each component into the database, so that you can perform a search based on specs and not just specific part numbers.  You decide on the columns whether it be numbers, dates, free form text or drop down lists.  

Bottom 5 Companies in the Electronic Components Industry

mysmarttrend.com reported on the bottom 5 electronic components manufacturers as ranked by revenue per employees (RPE). 

The bottom 5 include:

Superconductor Technologies with an RPE of $70K
Amphenol with an RPE of $99K
Littelfuse with an RPE of $108K
Eltek with an RPE of $121K
Vishay Intertechnology with an RPE of $123K

Full release here: http://www.mysmartrend.com/news-briefs/news-watch/bottom-5-companies-electronic-components-industry-lowest-rpe-scon-aph-lfus-el 

Developing EDE Blogroll

Looking for contributions for an EDE blogroll.  If you know of any great blogs and/or websites please list them in the comments section.  Thanks. 

WEEE Legislation Documents

The WEEE Directive 2002/96/EC is an EU Directive founded on the principle of "Producer Responsibility" and its general objectives are:

1. to prevent waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and to promote the reuse, recycling and recovery of such wastes
2. to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment, e.g. producers, distributors and consumers and in particular those operators directly involved in the treatment of waste electrical and electronic equipment.

Below are some resources for finding WEEE Legislation materials and resources:
- http://www.element14.com/community/community/legislation/weee?view=documents
- http://ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/weee/legis_en.htm
- http://www.weeeireland.ie/legislation.htm
- http://www.bis.gov.uk/weee

New Medical Devices: Sensor Tattoos

Smart Planet recently posted on how an iPhone monitors blood below the skin in via a digital tattoo where the ‘ink’ contains tiny sensors that can read – with the help of the phone’s camera – blood levels of sodium, glucose, and even alcohol.

The patch would be applied to the body like a temporary tattoo and would contain the electronic components necessary for sensing, communications and relaying information from the body to a monitoring device.

Alternative Energy Forums

There are a lot of alternative energy forums, however many of them are inactive.  Here are the top three most active forums and their current subject matter:

Permaculture Forums- Current topics include two liter air conditioning, experimenting with Pyramids, and best methods for solar energy generation.

http://altenergyshift.com - More corporate, news oriented.  Current topics cover the Seattle Seahawks use of alternative energy and an interview with the FuelCell Energy CEO.

element14's Alternative Energy Forum -Topics include lightning strike harvesting, fusion reactor to create mini sun on Earth, and solutions to store bad CO2 underground.

Manufacturer Lead Times

Cyclops Electronics posted a table to manufacturer lead times: 
http://www.cyclops-electronics.com/Userfiles/File/HandyTableOfTop14MajorManufacturersLeadTimes.pdf

Identifies corresponding product groups, increase or decrease by quarter.  It's a good comparison for other distributors considering some of the orders are up to 40 weeks!

Guide to Carlo Gavazzi Websites

gavazzionline.com - Their main website. 

carlogavazzi.com - Features media, investor and contact information about the Carlo Gavazzi group. 

gavazzi-automation.com - Appears to be more of an internal site.  Includes events, news, and an employee-only area. 

carlogavazzisales.com - Get quotes, view new products, catalogs and user manuals.

Carlo Gavazzi Distributor

New Fluke 772 and 773 - Are they setting new benchmarks?

Are the new Fluke 772 and Fluke 773 Milliamp Process Clamp Meters are setting new benchmarks for ease of use?  They're said to be designed to make troubleshooting common problems quick and efficient, what do you think?

Read their release: http://www.fluke.com/fluke/usen/community/fluke-news-plus/articlecategories/clamps/breaking-new-ground.htm