Manassas, VA – February 8, 2010  ZESTRON America, the globally integrated leader in high precision cleaning products and services, successfully hosted the first SMTA DC Chapter meeting and seminar at its U.S. Technical Center in Manassas, VA, on Tuesday, 26 January 2010.
 
Throughout the evening, ZESTRON held three presentations addressing the current challenges within the electronics manufacturing and high precision cleaning industries.  The first topic "Why Switch from Pure DI-Water to Chemistry?" outlined the drawbacks associated with straight DI-water cleaning under low standoff components and compared test results to chemistry assisted processes.  The second presentation "Go Greener in Your Cleaner – Cleaning Process Benchmarking" highlighted the advantages of pH-neutral cleaning agents and vapor recovery technologies in the quest for environmentally conscious manufacturing operations.  The third presentation "Cleaning Requirements Prior to Conformal Coating" addressed various PCB failure mechanisms as well as focused on several test methods available before and after the application of conformal coating.

The industry experts who attended the meeting had the opportunity for a question and answer session with ZESTRON's President, Dr. Harald Wack, and Senior Process Engineer, Ravi Parthasarathy, M.S.Chem.Eng.  Furthermore, ZESTRON offered a platform for an informal exchange of information as well as a tour of its Technical Center.
 
"The presentation last night was great!!! ZESTRON is working hard to provide an environmentally friendly PCB cleaning process.  I was very impressed with the cleanliness of your facility!!! Sparkling clean!!!" said Rich Green, Senior Engineering Manager, Pulsecom.

"ZESTRON was able to provide our (SMTA) Capital members with a most informative evening regarding advanced cleaning processes which included a facility and laboratory tour," said Alfred Freire, Secretary, SMTA Capital Chapter.
 
To receive a copy of the presentations, please contact infoUSA@zestron.com or visit http://smta.org/chapters/chapters_detail.cfm?chapter_id=14.

Manassas, VA – February 2, 2010 Customers can now take a new, enhanced "virtual tour" of ZESTRON America’s facility in Manassas, VA from the comforts of their own computers by visiting www.zestron.com. The expanded, web-based tour is designed to showcase the capabilities offered to support ZESTRON’s customers around the globe. While certain areas are secure and could not be shown, visitors to the site will have total access and detailed views of all customer support facilities including the application technology center, which houses 15 state-of-the-art pieces of equipment from leading manufacturers.

"The initial idea for a virtual tour came from a customer who conducted cleaning trials at our facility shortly after visiting our main competitor. The overwhelming positive reaction made us realize that we had not effectively differentiated our capabilities," said Michael McCutchen, Sales and Marketing Manager, ZESTRON America. "In the past, customers needed to visit one of our four global locations to see an important component of what makes ZESTRON different in this industry. Not anymore. This project allows us to utilize the innovative technology of a 360-degree virtual tour to showcase our Technical Centers in such a way that customers can decide for themselves who is best equipped to ensure success."

The virtual tour of ZESTRON America is only the beginning. Tours of each Technical Center in China, Europe and Malaysia are scheduled as part of the previously announced "Global Link" initiative. Once completed, the virtual tours will allow customers to assess the capabilities of each site prior to engaging in projects such as ZESTRON’s free-of-charge cleaning trials.

"We have grown to be the leader in precision cleaning because of our unwavering commitment to process improvement. ZESTRON prides itself on providing electronics manufacturers, who insist on eliminating long term reliability concerns, with the absolute best precision cleaning processes available. This is only possible when you can approximate your customers’ production conditions. Our Technical Centers certainly provide a huge advantage over our competitors and they are something we want customers to see for themselves," says Dr. Harald Wack, President, ZESTRON.

Beaverton, OR–Det Norske Veritas (DNV) once again certified Axiom to ISO 9001:2000 and EN/JISQ/AS9100:2004, and ANSI/ESD S20.20-2007. The certificates are available to view at www.axiomsmt.com, Enter, Company, Quality Policy.

Axiom has been Certified to the AS9100 standard since January 2006, and is pleased that the 2009 AS9100 audit continues our tradition of high scoring excellence. The ESD S20.20 certification is conducted yearly and is the second for Axiom. This ANSI standard "covers the requirements necessary to design, establish, implement, and maintain an ESD control program to protect electrical or electronic parts, assemblies and equipment susceptible to ESD damage from Human Body Model (HBM) discharges greater than or equal to 100 volts." Axiom’s internal standards, policies, practices, methods and redundant controls provide ESD protection that is well below (much better than) the ESD S20.20 Class 0 standard. Axiom joins a very select group of U.S. companies certified to this stringent ESD control standard. There are very few electronic manufacturing services companies in the U.S. certified for ESD S20.20.

Axiom President, Robert Toppel, says, "These certifications support our customers’ confidence and our strong position in high reliability markets such as military, aerospace, test instrumentation, industrial and medical. We are proud of our entire workforce and the dedication they demonstrate in their daily work as they continue to produce excellent products and superior service for our customers."

Axiom Electronics LLC (http://www.axiomsmt.com) is a leading Electronics Manufacturing Services company founded in 1990 and based in Beaverton, OR. Axiom provides a full spectrum of sophisticated electronic manufacturing services to a wide range of OEMs in the high reliability military/aerospace, medical, instrumentation, communications, industrial, and computer sectors.

Integrated Ideas & Technologies, Inc., a supplier of Surface Mount Stencils and quick-turn metal fabrication, announced today its implementation of the ITAR Compliance Program, which allows IIT, Inc. to accept ITAR government contracts. “At IIT, Inc., one of our major goals has been to find programs and services, enabling us to better serve our clients. These added services have been a contributing factor to our consistent growth, even through economically challenging times. We are very pleased about the ITAR Compliance rating we now have and expect the ITAR registration will be of great benefit to our growing list of defense contractors in both our SMT Stencil Division and our Metal Fabrication Division” stated Michael Ray, President of IIT, Inc. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) consists of regulations put in place by the United States Government, to control the import and export of domestic and foreign defense-related articles and services on the United States Munitions List. To become ITAR compliant, a business must adhere to exceptionally strict rules and requirements pertaining to government and military equipment and information. For more information on ITAR compliance, visit http://www.pmddtc.state.gov/regulations laws/itar.html

SMYRNA, GA - UP Media Group today announced the addition of three leading suppliers as exhibitors for the third annual VIRTUAL PCB, the industry's only virtual trade show and conference for the PCB design, fabrication and assembly markets. The two-day worldwide event takes place March 2-4, 2010.

Top electronics design automation suppliers Altium Ltd. and EMA Design Automation have signed on for the event. Also exhibiting is Kyzen Corp., a leading supplier of cleaning products for SMT and semiconductor manufacturing.

A fully interactive, Web-based event, VIRTUAL PCB (www.virtual-pcb.com) incorporates all the critical features of a live event, while allowing PCB design, fabrication and assembly equipment and materials buyers and sellers to interact online. VIRTUAL PCB is supported by a proven software platform (provided by INEXPO), and will be accessible on-demand for two months beyond the two-day live event.

Features of the upcoming virtual event will include custom exhibit booths, live attendee-attendee and attendee-exhibitor communication, live and on-demand equipment demonstrations, real-time technical presentations, open "chats" moderated by industry experts, and much more. "We are thrilled to have these industry leaders as exhibitors," said UP Media Group President Pete Waddell. "Even more telling, Altium and Kyzen are repeat exhibitors, demonstrating the value and return-on-investment of Virtual PCB."

For more information about Virtual PCB, visit www.virtual-pcb.com or contact Alyson Skarbek, show manager, at 404-665-7749 or askarbek@upmediagroup.com.

Torrance, CA - January 20, 2010 Technical Devices Company is pleased to announce the successful installation of its Nu/Clean AquaBatch Jr. Aqueous Batch Cleaner at ZESTRON America's Application Technology Center. With the addition of this new system, ZESTRON America is now operating 15 high precision cleaning machines by leading equipment manufacturers in its US Technical Center. The Nu/Clean AquaBatch Jr. is a quiet and efficient batch cleaning system designed to remove all types of electronic assembly residues including fluxes (water soluble, RMA, no-clean, and lead-free), plating salts, finger soils, and dust as well as loose solder balls. After extensive tests, it has been confirmed that this cleaning system is fully compatible with ZESTRON's VIGON® A and N series as well as ATRON® AC series cleaning agents. Cleaning applications involving the most commonly used fluxes, solder pastes and adhesives have shown excellent results. Furthermore, the AquaBatch Jr. is ergonomically constructed with a rust-free Polypro Contour Cabinet, a laboratory grade stainless steel heated process chamber, upper and lower adjustable racks also made of stainless steel, a built-in viewing window with interior lighting and easy-to-use touchpad controls. Its high temperature wash and rinse capabilities of up to 199º F and maximum dryer temperature of 158º F, combined with five pre-defined and six customized process recipes, allow the user to optimize the cleaning process for virtually any application. Technical Devices Company has been committed to providing superior products, including both batch and inline aqueous cleaning systems, and unmatched customer service and support for the manufacturing industry since 1952. For more information, please visit www.TechnicalDev.com. With more than 35 years of experience, ZESTRON is the worldwide leading provider of high precision cleaning products and services. For more information about ZESTRON's products and services or to receive complementary product samples, please visit www.zestron.com.

Post Falls, ID- Integrated Ideas & Technologies, Inc. is pleased to introduce Matthew Associates as a representative for both the SMT and Metal Fabrication Divisions. Matthew Associates represents IIT, Inc. in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Integrated Ideas & Technologies, Inc. is an industry leader in laser cut stencils for surface mount applications. In addition to smt stencils, IIT, Inc. has a full service Metal Fabrication shop, specializing in custom metal enclosures as well as metallic and non-metallic precision machined parts. Located near Boston, Matthew Associates is a diverse company dedicated to serving the needs of their customers with timely manufacturing and test solutions. For more than 15 years, Matthew Associates has served all aspects of the electronics environment and successfully maintained a reputation as one of the leaders in full line implementation and processes. Visit www.matthewassociates.com for more information.

Manassas, VA - January 5, 2010 In an effort conduct its business in an environmentally and socially responsible manner, ZESTRON America, the worldwide integrated and leading provider of high precision cleaning products and services, is expanding its focus on greener cleaning chemistries and technologies in 2010.

As the Stockholm Accord began to lay the foundation for legislative policies mandating countries to adopt greener technologies, the electronics manufacturing industry has been embracing environmentally conscious technologies for quite some time. ZESTRON assumed the leadership role in this movement by developing pH-neutral aqueous cleaning agents such as VIGON® N 501 in 2009. This product is fully biodegradable and free of any halogenated compounds and therefore meets the latest RoHS and WEEE guidelines as well as current worker safety standards and environmental requirements. Additionally, as DI-water has a limited ability to thoroughly clean water soluble flux residues under low standoff components, ZESTRON's R&D Department has developed new cleaning agents that will remove this type of contamination at very low concentrations.

Furthermore, ZESTRON's green initiative is focused on providing customers with process optimization techniques leading to energy and chemistry preservation, thus resulting in a minimal impact on the environment and substantial cost savings. These include but are not limited to ZESTRON’s 10-Step Cost Reduction Guideline, the ZESTRON® Bath Analyzer, designed to closely monitor bath concentration, as well as the ZESTRON® Demister and Condenser which offer the capability to maximize respective chemistry returns while reducing the amount of VOC emissions.

Within the high precision cleaning industry, any company that has the ability to offer products and services that preserve the environment and save costs, will guide the way to greener and leaner cleaning processes worldwide.

During the last month of the year WIA completed its relocation from Danbury, Connecticut to Plymouth, Massachusetts.

On December 1, Gene H. Weiner, President of the well known consultancy, attended the 4th 2009 Wong's Kong King International (Holdings) Ltd. Board of Directors meeting in Hong Kong.

At the annual joint Hong Kong Printed Circuit Association and IPC Conference and Exhibition held in Shenzhen, China December 2-4 he presented the views of his company and its Senior Associates of five new technologies and products that would make an impact upon the interconnect's fabrication and assembly industries. These included specifics on nano particles and spaces, print electronics and OLED's, nano solders, a major direct laser imaging advance, and new high energy flash exposure systems for solder masks.

While at the event he participated in the launch of Wong's Kong King Distribution's new automated solder mask printing system, The X-Box, that exposes photoimageable solder masks in less than five seconds. In early product profiling tests the X-Box demonstrated a capability of producing 75 micron dams in 25 micron (1.0 mil) thick solder masks. The system was secretly developed and built in the company's Shanghai, China facility.

On December 9 Weiner was appointed to the Advisory Council of Post University's MBA program. He and several other new MBA Advisory Board members were hosted by the University Chancellor, Tom Samph, other University officers, The MBA Program Director and key professors at a dinner meeting at the Waterbury Country Club. Several years ago, Weiner actively participated in the formation of, approval, and establishment of the University's MBA program in Innovation and Entrepreneurship. Now, this new rapidly growing award winning accredited program has graduated its first class, and has a current enrollment of 300 students.

Post University, founded over 100 years ago as a business school, is now ranked 18th among online education providers according to the Online Education Database (OEDb), a national resource for online degree programs.

Manassas, VA - December 8, 2009 ZESTRON America, the world leader in high precision cleaning products and services, is pleased to announce that, after careful consideration, Phoenix United Associates, Inc. has elected to represent ZESTRON's sophisticated line of chemistries, proven vapor recovery devices, and process optimization services effective December 22, 2009.

Phoenix United Associates, Inc., located in McVeytown, Pennsylvania, has been helping its customers maintain a competitive edge in the electronics industry since 1991, representing companies with compelling differentiators. Since its beginning, the goal of Phoenix U.A.I. has been to provide prospective principals with a professional, technical, self-sufficient, "Best-In-Class" sales force to attract the industry’s premier "Best-In-Class" lines.

True to its mission statement "To serve the Electronics Manufacturing Marketplace with the most experienced, qualified representation where performance and integrity are never compromised," the company has been representing many well-known names in the industry such as Speedline Technologies, Cencorp, Indium Corp, Mydata Automation, Electronic Controls Design, Ultrasonic Controls Design, Mirtec and many others. The company will be representing ZESTRON America in New York, New Jersey and Eastern Pennsylvania.

"It is rewarding to know that ZESTRON is increasingly sought after as both, a precision cleaning provider and viable business partner, bringing significant value to organizations of all sizes. Phoenix United’s decision to carry ZESTRON’s product line is a testament to the strength of our organization," says Sheldon Brennan, National Sales Manager, ZESTRON America.

For more information about ZESTRON products and services or to receive complementary product samples, please visit www.zestron.com.

November 30, 2009 - Buffalo Grove, IL - Panasonic Factory Solutions Company of America has announced a new financing program for customers purchasing Panasonic’s innovative manufacturing solutions for robotic arc welding as well as electronics assembly.

The program from Panasonic Finance Solutions helps customers cover equipment and other soft costs though an array of finance solutions and customized lease plans. Through this offering, customers can acquire equipment sooner to start producing on it and generating revenue.

Tom Gebhardt, Panasonic Factory Solutions Company of America President, commented, “We aim to maximize productivity and improve profitability for our customers through our various manufacturing solutions. The addition of financing from Panasonic Finance Solutions can be especially attractive in this economy—financing solutions that are sensitive to today’s manufacturing industries versus traditional financing, and flexible for maintaining a positive cash flow.” Vice President for Panasonic Finance Solutions, David Gerrard, added, “Panasonic Factory Solutions Company of America’s customers and distributors can count on a full suite of finance options including deferred payments, allowing them to generate revenue without a large initial cash outlay.”