Uyemura International President Tony Revier
has been elected by the membership to NASF to
its Board of Directors for a two-year term.
New strategic directions, new market opportunities,
and new technology applications within the
DOD/aerospace industry will be among the
important topics addressed by the board at its
first meeting, in January, in the nation’s capital.

The Uyemura Family warmly congratulates Don Walsh,
Director of Operations, on his New Year’s Day engagement to
Gail Dumas, of Stratham, NH.

George Milad Receives
IPC Presidents Award

Association Connecting Electronics
Industries honored George Milad
with its coveted IPC Presidents
Award at the IPC Midwest
Conference & Exhibition,
September 23, 2009.
This prestigious award is
presented to IPC members
who have exhibited
ongoing leadership in IPC and have made significant contributions
to the association and the electronic interconnect industry. 

Milad has nearly 25 years experience in the PCB industry and is
Uyemura’s National Accounts Manager of Technology.  Within the
past decade, Milad has received five committee-related awards for
his standards development activities and leadership.  He has served
as professional development instructor for workshops on plating
processes and tin whiskers, and has published numerous works on
electrolytic plating and metallic surface finishes as HASL alternatives.

Above photo: George Milad receives the President’s Award
from IPC CEO Denny McGuirk.

Leo of the Year

The International Board of Directors of the Lions Club
has announced Terryville High School senior,
Katy Gudeczauskas, daughter of Uyemura Technical
Director Don Gudeczauskas, as one of 23 students in
the world named as “Leo of the Year” for 2009.
The award recognizes outstanding leadership skills,
superior record in implementing successful service
projects, distinction in community activities,
high ethical standards and personal integrity.

There are 23 recognized Leo’s of the Year
worldwide, out of over 144,000 Leos internationally;
8 are in the U.S.

Number-Crunchers All

I can't think of a period in our national history
when statistics – good and bad – so dominated
the news. The downturn, it seems, has made
statisticians of all of us.  Thankfully, with the
possible exception of short-sellers, most of us
will be cheered by the latest information from
industry’s economic experts.

The Institute for Supply Management reports
that economic activity in the manufacturing
sector expanded in October for the third
consecutive month, and the overall economy grew for the sixth
consecutive month, according to US supply executives in the latest
Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®.

The recovery in manufacturing strengthened in October as ISM’s
Purchasing Manager’s Index registered 55.7 percent – 3.1 percentage
points higher than September’s 52.6 percent, and the highest reading
for the index since April 2006, when it was 56 percent. A PMI above
50 indicates that the manufacturing economy is generally expanding;
below 50 indicates general contraction. The 12-month average is
42.9 percent, so the 55.7 percent number seems significant, indeed. 

IPC President Denny McGuirk is cautiously optimistic as well. 
Commenting in October, he said, "we're finally starting to see the
turnaround in the North American PCB industry. Both rigid PCB and
flexible circuit sales and orders were up by double digits in September,
compared to August. 

Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments grew by
21.7 percent and rigid bookings increased 29.7 percent. The book-to-bill
ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in September 2009 was 1.09.

Flexible circuit shipments in September 2009 rose 7.9 percent,
and bookings increased 12.1 percent compared to September 2008.
The most promising indicator is the book-to-bill ratio at 1.08," he added.
"It has been above parity for five consecutive months."

Book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked
over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same
period from companies in IPC's survey sample. A ratio of more than
1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a
positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to six months.

Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits
combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment, which is an
estimated 91 percent of the North American PCB industry, according to
IPC's World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report.

Don Walsh
Director of Operations
Uyemura USA

UIC is C-TPAT Certified

UIC has been designated a certified partner in the Customs-Trade
Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT). C-TPAT is a program of CBP
(Customs and Border Protection), America's single unified border agency.

Uyemura is the first manufacturer of plating chemistries,
(in fact, one of the first companies in the world) to be awarded
ISO 9001:2008 certification, with zero nonconformance items
noted. We would like to recognize the excellent work of everyone,
in particular, David Liston, Quality Manager, and Patricia Wolowicz,
Tech Center Office Manager, for their efforts in achieving this
landmark distinction.