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FEBRUARY 2001 INDUSTRY NEWS

 

GE Chief Set to Head Off EU Antitrust Probe - FT

LONDON, (Reuters) - General Electric Co's chief executive Jack Welch will meet European Union Competition Commissioner Mario Monti on Monday in an effort to avert an in-depth antitrust probe of the U.S. conglomerate's planned takeover of Honeywell International Inc the Financial Times reported on Monday.

General Electric said last October it had agreed to buy Honeywell -- the largest acquisition in its history -- to bolster its key aerospace, industrial systems, power and plastics businesses.

The proposed merger sparked concerns within the EU's antitrust regulator about the portfolio effect of a deal that would create the world's largest industrial company.

"Combining the complementary activities of two companies that are already powerful in themselves can lead to a company that is more than the sum of its parts," Alec Burnside, an EU partner at Linklaters and Alliance in Brussels told the Financial Times.

General Electric declined to tell the paper whether it was preparing to offer concessions to Brussels.

 

ISO 9000 Guide for Chemicals to Be Revised

A group has been formed to revise the Chemical and Process Industries Division's book on ISO 9000 to align it with the Year 2000 revision of ISO 9001. The goal of this group is to publish the 3rd edition of "ISO 9000 Guidelines for the Chemical and Process Industries" by the middle of 2001.

Volunteers are welcomed to the group. If interested in contributing, contact Jim Bigelow at (979) 733-9465 or tqmjimbig@bigfoo.com.

 

Dassault Systemes and PlanetCAD announce a CAA V5 development partnership

PARIS (Business Wire) - PlanetCAD Inc. and Dassault Systemes announced the signing of a Component Application Architecture (CAA) V5 development partnership. The purpose of this agreement is the integration of PlanetCAD design quality engineering validation software in the CATIA V5 environment. This will enable the integration of customers' critical processes, from design up to design quality control, into a single environment.

Engineers in the digital manufacturing supply chain need to test and confirm the quality of their data early in the design process. It is vitally important to test CAD, CAM and CAE models early and often. This helps eliminate errors, improve interoperability and save time and money. When models are not tested, problems often result later in the design process, including lack of interoperability and hidden errors that may not show up until manufacturing.

"PlanetCAD and Dassault Systemes enjoy a very strong, cooperative relationship. We recently sold our Component Software Division to Dassault Systemes, and we have a number of ongoing cross-licensing agreements with the company," said Dick Sowar, Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer, PlanetCAD. "It was therefore an obvious choice for PlanetCAD to participate in the CAA V5 Galaxy Program with PrescientQA. It will provide our customers with yet another option for their software needs."

"The signing of the CAA V5 partnership agreement is the result of a successful teamwork between Dassault Systemes and PlanetCAD," said Dominique Florack, Executive Vice-President, Research and Development, Dassault Systemes. "PlanetCAD, with its strong experience in the design-quality engineering software arena, has naturally joined the CAA V5 community to offer CATIA V5 users with highly competitive and efficient tools. Thanks to this new integration, we still go on in building a strong and consistent products portfolio to always improve the Product Lifecycle Management (PLM)."

Dassault Systemes is the premier global software developer of Product Lifecycle Management solutions, providing companies with e-business solutions to implement their digital enterprise.

PlanetCAD develops and delivers Web-hosted and enterprise-based application services and e-commerce sites for streamlining engineering data interchange throughout the digital manufacturing supply chain.

 

ALZA Corporation to Host Analyst Meeting and Provide Web Cast On February 27, 2001

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (PRNewswire) -- ALZA Corporation announced that the company will host its annual analyst meeting at the Mutual of America Building in New York on Tuesday, February 27, 2001 from 2:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

Presenting will be Dr. Ernest Mario, chairman and chief executive officer and other members of the senior executive management team. At the meeting, we will provide an overview of ALZA's achievements towards its strategic objectives in 2000, and updates on our 2001 pharmaceutical sales and marketing efforts, ALZA's proprietary drug delivery technologies, and status of products in development.

Live audio of the February 27th discussion will be available on ALZA's investor relations Web site at www.alza.com when the meeting begins at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. For the convenience of the media and others who wish to listen in via live telecast, please contact 650-564-5222 for the toll free number. ALZA will archive presentation slides and audio replay of the meeting on the Web site following the event.

ALZA Corporation, headquartered in Mountain View, California, is a research-based pharmaceutical company with leading drug delivery technologies. The company applies its delivery technologies to develop pharmaceutical products with enhanced therapeutic value for its own portfolio and for many of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies. ALZA's sales and marketing efforts are currently focused in urology, oncology and central nervous system products. Information on ALZA can also be found on the World Wide Web at www.alza.com.

 

Reducing Technical Barriers to Trade. Second Triennial Review of the WTO Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) - Results and Scope

For the ISO Bulletin, Prof. Henri Schwamm, Professor of Economics in Geneva, analyses the results and the scope of the second triennial review of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT).

This thorough review provided in particular an opportunity for WTO member countries to agree on the conditions standards bodies needed to fulfil in order that international standards effectively play the role marked out for them by the TBT Agreement, namely to facilitate commercial exchanges throughout the world. This represents an important breakthrough that confirms, and in a way officializes, the key position within world trade occupied by consensus international standards such as those of ISO, for the benefit of both developing and developed countries.

Tecnomatix CEO to keynote at Daratech's SUMMIT2001 conference on e- Manufacturing trends

Harel Beit-On, President and CEO of Tecnomatix Technologies, Inc., is a keynote speaker on trends in collaborative e-Manufacturing at Daratech's SUMMIT2001 conference. Collaborative e-Manufacturing has completely changed the way manufacturers build and ultimately deliver products to consumers. Product life cycles are shrinking drastically and with the ability to build competitive and flexible manufacturing lines, manufacturers are now able to meet customer expectations. Every leading manufacturer in the automotive, aerospace, electronics and heavy equipment industries, including Mazda, Toshiba, Boeing, Agilent Technologies, BMW and Volvo, rely on Tecnomatix e-Manufacturing technology to produce higher quality products quicker and cheaper than ever before.

The SUMMIT2001 conference brings together CEOs of the world's leading suppliers in e-PDM/ERP, CAD/CAM, CAE and e-Manufacturing to discuss market trends in manufacturing and engineering technology. The SUMMIT2001 conference is Monday, February 26, 2001 at The Boston Plaza Park Hotel, Boston, MA. For more information, visit www.daratech.com.

 

Medtronic Quarterly Profits Up 15 Percent

CHICAGO, IL (Reuters) - Medtronic Inc., the world's largest manufacturer of medical devices, on Wednesday said profits rose 15 percent in its fiscal third quarter, meeting Wall Street's forecasts, even as the dollar's strength continued to undermine results.

The Minneapolis-based maker of pacemakers, coronary stents, defibrillators and a host of neurological and other products, said it earned $313.9 million, or 26 cents a share, excluding nonrecurring charges in the quarter ended Jan. 26. A year earlier, the company earned $271.6 million, or 23 cents a share, before nonrecurring charges.

The $14.4 million one-time pretax charge, related to its PercuSurge merger, reduced earnings and diluted earnings per share to $302.8 million, or 25 cents, respectively.

``The euro weakness made the third quarter our most challenging from a currency translation perspective,'' Medtronic's chief financial officer Robert Ryan told analysts on a conference call.

Third-quarter revenue rose 7.9 percent to $1.36 billion from $1.26 billion a year ago. Foreign currency translation cut $52 million off revenues in the latest quarter.

Ryan said he expected the strength of the dollar to continue to weigh on results.

 

Advanced Validation Labs, Inc. Achieves ISO 9002 Certification

/PRNewswire/ -- Developing a standard of consistent quality, Advanced Validation Labs (AVL), a leader in validation and compatibility testing, announced the achievement of ISO 9002 certification by passing the ISO 9002 audit on the first assessment attempt.

"There's no limit to the level of quality we can provide," said Larry Ho, Director of Technical Labs, AVL. "AVL has a very strong quality program and process control in our testing environment. Now that we are ISO 9002 certified we can further demonstrate our commitment to a consistent level of quality."

The emerging worldwide standard for product and process quality, ISO 9000 is adopted by 130 countries which comprise the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). ISO 9000 is best known to European countries who use the certification as a means of identifying companies dedicated to providing a customer with the highest level of quality assurance related to products and services.

According to ISO assessors, the certification process is rigorous and only 30% of the companies who strive to become certified are successful on their first audit. Certification is an ongoing process and AVL will undergo regular internal and external audits by third party ISO assessors.

 

Keithley and X-Rite Sign Agreement

CLEVELAND, OH -- Keithley Instruments and X-Rite, Incorporated's subsidiary Labsphere, Inc., North Sutton, New Hampshire, have signed an agreement which blends both companies' expertise in their respective measurement technologies. Keithley is an innovator and manufacturer of precision electronic measurement instruments, while Labsphere, Inc. is a world leader in reflectance technologies and related optical test equipment. An immediate result of the arrangement is that Keithley will offer an integrating sphere custom designed by Labsphere for use with Keithley's L-I-V (Light Intensity-Current-Voltage) Test System.

 

Transmation Announces Fiscal 2000 Third Quarter and Nine Month Results

ROCHESTER, NY -- /PRNewswire/ -- Transmation, Inc., a leading business-to-business distributor, servicer and manufacturer of test, measurement and calibration instrumentation used in industrial markets, today announced financial results for its third quarter and nine months ended December 31, 2000.

Net income totaled $84,692, or $0.01 per share, on sales of $19.4 million for the quarter ended December 31, 2000 compared to a net loss of $3,011,058, or $0.50 per share, on sales of $19.3 million which was reported for the third quarter ended December 31, 1999. For the nine months ended December 31, 2000, the Company reported a net loss of $141,950, or $0.02 per share, on sales of $55.4 million compared to a net loss of $2,437,426, or $0.41 per share, on sales of $58.5 million which was reported for the nine months ended December 31, 1999.

Sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2001 reflected the impact of adverse exchange rates on shipping levels in international markets, particularly in the Far East. Sales for the first nine months of fiscal 2000 benefited significantly from the shipping of back orders resulting from the Company's acquisition of Metermaster.

 

CPI Earns Accreditation by A2LA to ISO17025

CINCINNATI, OH -- It is official! As of January 8, 2001, CPI's quality processes have accreditation to ISO17025. This new standard replaces Guide 25 and becomes the standard commercial labs must follow by June of 2001. "It has been a long process of waiting," states Wayne Underwood, Calibration Lab Manager. "We are glad to finally have approval from A2LA." CPI had their audit in August and thought they would have approval much sooner. "We are one of the first labs in the country to be accredited to the new standard ISO17025," remarked Mr. Underwood, "I believe A2LA had some discrepancies internally that needed to be addressed." This caused delay in approval and many phone calls for Mr. Underwood to answer. Customers were calling him on a regular basis and he kept telling them, "it will be any day for approval."

The scope of this accreditation covers all aspects of instrumentation that CPI currently calibrates as well as on-site calibration. "We are very proud of Wayne and his staff for their efforts in receiving this accreditation," says Mr. Plymire, President of CPI. "We feel this approval to the new standard will be a big boost to our business."

For more information, you may go to our website www.cpi1stop.com.

 

Transmation's PDA Calibrators Earn Product of the Year Award

ROCHESTER, NY -- Transmation Products Group, a business unit of Transmation, Inc. announced that its new line of PDA Calibrators received the instruments category Product of the Year -- Bronze Award in the 14th Annual Plant Engineering magazine's awards competition.

The Plant Engineering Product of the Year Awards were established to honor the most innovative and useful products introduced to the industrial plant engineering market each year. The selections are based on significant advances in technology or its application, a decided innovation in design, or a substantial gain in price-performance.

Mr. Robert G. Klimasewski, President and Chief Executive Officer of Transmation, Inc., stated: "Our line of PDA Calibrators is an innovative convergence of communication technologies with other engineering disciplines and foreshadows the future of test and measurement as miniaturization and integration bring pocket portability to engineering field work and bench tops.

"This award reinforces our long-standing commitment to product innovation. As a result of working closely with our customers, we are able to anticipate the market's needs. We combine disparate technologies to solve problems in a creative way, which reflects the spirit of exploration within our company."

 

Johnson Controls, GlaxoSmithKline Agreement Brings Engineering Best Practices to R&D Facilities

MILWAUKEE, WI -- A new five-year contract between GlaxoSmithKline and Johnson Controls strengthens the relationship between the companies by bringing a designated engineering team's expertise to three former SmithKline Beecham pharmaceutical research and development centers in England. The team of more than 120 Johnson Controls engineers provides round-the-clock service to the R&D facilities at Harlow, Welwyn and Tonbridge, England, under the agreement. The working relationship between the two companies began with a 1995 engineering service contract covering the Tonbridge site.

Under the agreement, Johnson Controls is responsible for heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems; instrumentation and controls calibration; specialist laboratory equipment installation; programming all programmable logic controllers; collecting data on equipment; and operating and maintenance of steam plants. Johnson Controls also operates a dispatch center to handle scientific engineering requests and adjustments to temperature and humidity. All data is placed on GSK's computerized maintenance management system. The processes fully support the demands of Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Laboratory Practice standards.

 

NACLA Launches New Web Site

GAITHERSBURG, MD -- The National Cooperation for Laboratory Accreditation (NACLA) has launched a new web site. The new site is located at www.nacla.net. The site contains latest news about NACLA developments, as well as key documents, information about NACLA meetings, officials, and working group chairs who welcome the participation of interested parties.

The site carries information about and registration materials for two important NACLA meetings, to be held on April 2 and 3, in Arlington, Virginia. The April 2 event is a training workshop on the details and benefits of the NACLA process for recognizing competent accreditation bodies. On the following day, NACLA will hold its 2001 Annual Meeting. Both events are open to the public.

NACLA was established in 1998 as a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to coordinate U.S. laboratory accreditation activities and serve as the nation's link to the global laboratory accreditation system. NACLA is run by a Board of Directors/Operations Council that consists of representatives of major industrial firms, government agencies, accreditation bodies and laboratory associations. Additional information including how to join NACLA is available on the website.
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