Methode manufactures in China
Methode Network Bus Products (Rolling Meadows, IL), a business unit of Methode Electronics, announced the December 2, 2005, grand opening of its new facility for the design and manufacture of bus bars and custom power-distribution solutions in Shanghai, China. The new 60,000-sq-ft. facility will serve the growing power distribution market in the Far East. Together with the current 60,000-sq-ft. facility in Rolling Meadows, the Shanghai operation allows Methode to expand its capabilities to meet the fast-growing global requirements for power-distribution system products. The dedicated facility in Pudong, Shanghai, has complete bus-bar manufacturing capabilities, including design, stamping, machining, fabrication, lamination, powder coating, and final testing. Initial production of small lots began in the new facility on November 15, 2005, with full production starting the week of December 5, 2005. Methode Network Bus Products China also has an extensive sales support network already in place in the region for new applications and customer support.
www.methode.com
Connex GmbH distributes for Stratos
Stratos Lightwave (Chicago, IL), a Stratos International brand and a leader in fiberoptic interconnects for the broadcast industry, announced that Connex GmbH (Lohne, Germany) has been signed as an authorized distributor of its line of video media converter products. Connex, a manufacturer and supplier of connecting and distribution systems to the broadcast industry, will add to its products the Stratos line of coax SDI/HD-to-fiber products for the broadcast industry. Connex offers a range of service and assemblies for fiberoptic systems, including the Fibrefox Series EBC connectors that use the Stratos expanded-beam technology and are compatible with similar-format Stratos harsh-environment connectors.
www.stratoslightwave.com
Cirris Systems buys OmniTester
Cirris Systems (Salt Lake City, UT), a manufacturer of cable, harness, and backplane testers, have announced the purchase of OmniTester of Westampton, NJ. Both Cirris and OmniTester manufacture cable, harness, and backplane testers used by electronic manufacturing companies worldwide. As part of the transaction, Ray Mumma, sales manager at OmniTester, has joined Cirris System’s sales and customer support team. Mumma has over ten years of experience selling cable and harness testers with OmniTester. He will focus primarily on existing Omni customers.
www.cirris.com
HellermanTyton awarded twice
EDGE Marketing and Procurement Group has recognized HellermannTyton, (Milwaulkee, WI), a global manufacturer of network cabling solutions, with two awards for supplier excellence at this year’s EDGE conference. The Best Outside Support award was given in recognition of HellermannTyton’s outside customer sales and service support, and the Partners in Excellence Award was given to HellermannTyton due to a minimum 15% increase in sales to the EDGE Group in the past year. EDGE is a distributor-owned organization of independent distributors and vendors representing the electronic, data communications, broadcast, security, and CCTV industries.
www.hellerman.tyton.com
Cookson to sell Polyclad Laminates
Cookson Group plc (London), the parent company of Cookson Electronics, has agreed to sell Polyclad Laminates to Isola Group, Sarl (Chandler, AZ), for $91 million (£51 million). Completion of the transaction is expected in February 2006, pending approval from European anti-trust authorities. Polyclad Laminates manufactures laminate and prepreg materials for the printed-wiring-board and electronics-packaging industry. The company’s high-reliability, lead-free, halogen-free, and electrically enhanced materials are specified and used by printed wiring-board fabricators, assemblers, and OEMs to manufacture a diversity of computer, automotive, telecommunications, aerospace, and other electronic devices. Isola Group, Sarl, is a technology-driven, global designer, developer, and manufacturer of high-performance base materials used in the manufacture of advanced multilayer printed-circuit boards worldwide. Isola is a privately held company owned by Texas Pacific Group (TPG), a global private equity firm, and Redfern Partners, a strategic investor in the PCB industry.
www.cooksongroup.co.uk
Award for Empower
Empower Technologies (Richmond, British Columbia, Canada), provider of Linux-based embedded solutions, announced that its Developers Kit has been nominated for the International Innovations Design and Engineering Awards for the best new products among consumer technology manufacturers and developers. The award recognizes the most innovative consumer electronics products in over 30 categories globally each year at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas each January. As a third-party vendor partner of Texas Instruments, Empower’s LDK5910 Developers Kit for the TI OMAP5910 DSP chip was nominated. The LDK5910 is a development tool for software engineers and consumer electronics manufacturers/developers to improve new products’ time to market, reduce development costs, and alleviate design delay due to multiple vendors.
www.empowertechnologies.com
