Are you ready to explore the cutting-edge advancements shaping the electronics manufacturing industry The May 2025 issue of SMT007 Magazine is packed with insights and expert perspectives that you won’t want to miss Has X-ray’s time finally come in electronics manufacturing where we answer this question and others to bring more efficiency to your bottom line If you’re going to Anaheim for IPC APEX EXPO 2025 consider this issue of SMT007 Magazine to be your golden ticket to planning the show Estimated reading time: Less than a minute our customer THALES came to visit our Châteaubourg and Coutances facilities Director of Supplier Industrial Performance and Sylvie Flament Global Category Manager PCB & Substrates were able to appreciate the substantial investments made to develop our industrial facilities as well as our technical and innovation capabilities and Roque Carmona took the opportunity to formalize elvia PCB’s commitment to limit the group’s carbon footprint especially concerning  the products manufactured for Thales French managed services firm Blue is developing a data center in Nantes The company is developing a 2,000 sqm (21,525 sq ft) facility that is set to go live by the end of 2024 Blue is reportedly repurposing an existing building and investing a total of €8 million ($8.5m) in the project The site will initially comprise two data halls and will feature immersion cooling in one Founded in 2005 and previously known as Bretagne Télécom Blue owns a data center in Châteaubourg outside Rennes – a former Thales site – and operates out of six colocation facilities across the country with Blue taking over a part of the property in 2012 The company opened a third data hall at the site earlier this year Data Centre Dynamics Ltd (DCD), 32-38 Saffron Hill, London, EC1N 8FH Email. [email protected]DCD is a subsidiary of InfraXmedia a village of just 250 people south of Lyons known to wine lovers for the Cornas and St Joseph reds they produce on their domaine overlooking the Rhône is hoping to win another six-year term today as local elections are held in communities from tiny Châteaubourg to Paris and other major cities in the first major test for Emmanuel Macron since he became president in 2017 some 20,000 of France’s 35,000 or so mayors preside over fewer than 500 people when it was decreed there should be a mayor wherever there was a church steeple Renowned artist Patrick Dougherty and volunteers to start work on a piece to grace Austin’s oldest park Work on a major new public artwork to be installed in Pease Park is slated to start Wednesday Patrick Dougherty, whose internationally acclaimed Stickwork project has now placed more than 275 distinct pieces in public spaces around the world, from Australia to France. The Pease Park Conservancy commissioned the artist to create an original piece for the series to reside in the 84-acre park, which winds along Shoal Creek just west of downtown. Dougherty’s site-specific structure will used saplings harvested from local invasive species such as depression willow and ash and will likely inhabit the whimsical, interactive spirit of other works in the series. Starting Wednesday, Dougherty and Austin volunteers—100 of them, scheduled in staggered, half-day shifts—will bring the artist’s vision to life in the park’s Custer’s Meadow. It will take about three weeks to complete the project, with a public opening tentatively scheduled for early February. To access a decision, an opinion or a merger control decision: The Autorité de la concurrence hands down fine worth a total of up to 58.3 million euros to the main fruit-compote manufacturers for pricing agreement and market sharing from October 2010 to January 2014. The Autorité fined Materne, Andros, Conserves France, Délis/Vergers de Châteaubourg, Charles Faraud/Charles & Alice, as well as Valade. The comprehensive plan's objective defined by the compotes manufacturers was to raise the selling prices of compotes to retailers’ own-brands and out-of-home catering clients and to coordinate on the amount of the price increase. Furthermore, they agreed on a common discourse justifying these price increases and shared the volumes and clients. The dutch company Coroos, which also participated in the infringement, reported the agreement as part of the leniency procedure. The Coroos company was able, in exchange for its cooperation during the investigation, to benefit from a full exemption from fines. North Carolina eco-artist Patrick Dougherty's two-story willow creation will greet visitors this summer at the arboretum. A pile of sticks is rising from the earth at the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. Patrick Dougherty, an internationally known environmental artist, is building a massive willow sculpture on a stage in front of the visitor center. The organic art installation is part of this summer's "Big Build" exhibit. He'll toil for 17 days with the help of 75 volunteers to unload five trucks of branches, build scaffolding and weave the willow into a form inspired by the site and surroundings. Dougherty will reveal the name of the completed work at a ceremony on May 22. We talked to Dougherty last week about his passion for creating artwork from sticks. Q Your job is pretty unusual. What do you tell people you do for a living? A I'm a sculptor, but it's hard to explain that I use tree saplings. It helps if I have a picture to show them. They always compare it to making forts. Q Did you build stick forts when you were a kid? A I spent a lot of time in the woods making stick and pine straw tepees in North Carolina with my brothers and sisters. Now I'm choosing sticks to play out adult ideas. My work encourages people to reminisce about their own childhoods when they built forts and made things. Q How did you become an environmental artist with more than 150 works all over the world? A When I worked in hospital administration, I would look out my office and see carpenters who were having more fun. I enjoyed making things. So I decided to go back to school and become a sculptor. I decided that sticks would be a good vehicle to carry out my ideas. It was an available material because sticks are a product of suburban society. When they clear forests, they produce lots and lots of saplings. Q You're 64 years old and you have jobs scheduled into 2012. What keeps you going? A I think that I'm a maker and as long as I get to work with natural materials, I'm really happy. I love the challenge of trying to fit something onto a site and make it look like it has the feeling of a natural phenomenon -- like it somehow might have blown in on the wind. A In the early 1980s I built human stick figures that sat in chairs. My first works were displayed in art galleries and at art centers. Then I started making architectural folly, and that expanded my work to buildings 30 feet high. Q Which sculpture was the most grueling to build? A In Ireland, I made a stick tower about 45 feet tall that was wrapped around a tree. We had to work in the rain every minute, every day. Q What's your strangest-looking creation? A I've made some kachina masks that were as big as a house with faces on both sides. You look at them and they look back at you. Q Your other works resemble wine bottles, tropical huts and palaces. How will you determine the size and shape of the arboretum piece? A It's serendipitous. I get ideas when I get there and look at the materials, the view and what works best from the site. I may make a little model of it. I have three weeks to make a great sculpture. A If you stay somewhere longer than three weeks, you have to move there. My wife wants me home one weekend a month. Q It looks like really physical work. Are you sore at the end of the day? A I've done this for a long time and I'm used to it. Sometimes my shoulder hurts, but it's just like being a ditch digger or cabinetmaker. It's an occupation with pain. Q How long do the sculptures last? Are you sad when they're torn down or are destroyed by the elements? A About two years. I'm more interested in the process of making something new and then turning it over to the viewer. Lynn Underwood is a reporter for the Star Tribune's Home & Garden section covering remodeling, design, trends, new housing, architecture and gardening. She also writes for the Variety section.   News & Politics We respect the desire of some tipsters to remain anonymous and have put in place ways to contact reporters and editors to ensure the communication will be private and secure pedaled 90-km to Paris to meet her star French professional footballer Kylian Mbappé after cycling over three days from her native place Châteaubourg Mbappé shared the heartwarming moment with the young girl at the stadium and shared the video on Instagram Camille suffers from a rare congenital disease a person with this condition can experience spinal problems Camille mostly suffers from dysfunctions of the heart limbs and muscles on the left side of the body The young girl was defended by the star striker on Twitter earlier this year after being insulted by fans when the 8-year-old made a video asking Mbappe to extend his contract at PSG Mbappé had dedicated his goal to her in January 2022 had challenged herself to meet her footballing idol she pedaled covering 90-km in three days by bike to reach the Parc des Princes and raise funds for sick children Little Camille was finally able to meet the PSG players and his idol Mbappé after a reception with great fanfare that social networks have relayed with joy ever since guard of honor of PSG supporters who came to applaud her “This is a memory that Camille is not going to forget...” The PSG star gave her a signed jersey while the little girl gave him a pen in return to sign his contracts Camille then went back on her bicycle with her father An association was created at the end of 2019 by the parents of Camille suffering from VACTERL syndrome (a set of anomalies and congenital malformations) so that their daughter and other children can make the most of life and achieve their dreams The Autorité publishes today a decision by which it fines a national cartel between the main fruit-compote manufacturers which lasted from October 2010 to January 2014 ● products sold to food retailers under retailers’ own-brand labels ● products sold to food service distributors (“out-of-home catering”) which also participated in the infringement reported the agreement as part of the leniency procedure This approach led the Autorité to conduct an in-depth investigation in exchange for its cooperation during the investigation to benefit from a full exemption from fines almost the entire market for compotes sold under retailers’ own-brand label (90%) and out-of-home catering (100%) The main outlet for compote producers is the supermarket distribution channel Some of the products are sold under so-called "premium" or national brands (for example the Materne Another part of the products is sold under retailers’ own brand label the brands developed by the food retailer brands whose products are manufactured by the companies of the sector mass retail brands usually organise tenders to select suppliers who will manufacture their compote-based products and on which they will then affix their own brands The second distribution channel for the production of compotes is that of sales to distributors specializing in “out-of-home catering” These distributors also generally obtain supplies from manufacturers through tenders and then supply actors of the catering service (company canteens hospitals and other accommodation facility (schools the companies from the group benefited from a total fine exemption in regards to their cooperation throughout the investigation The dawn raids carried out in September 2015 by the Investigation services of the Autorité de la concurrence in France and in the Netherlands with the cooperation of the Dutch competition authority (ACM) (see the press release) led to finding extensive evidence which completed the evidence broight by the leniency applicant The European Competition Network (ECN) is an integrated and reinforced cooperation network between national competition authorities from the European Union and the European Commission competition authorities can for instance seek the support of their counterparts to carry joint dawn raids and cooperate on cases (see Article 22 paragraph 1 of the  Regulation 1/2003) Valade and Coroos Conserven BV decided to implement a comprehensive plan aimed at: Market players justified the implementation of the cartel by an adverse economic situation due to the increase of the cost of raw material and packaging and by the increasing pressure exerted by buyers (mass retail and food service distributors) in the framework of call for tenders or as part of OTC trades a Dutch manufacturer which initially aimed for an agressive pricing policy would also have been perceived by the historical market players as a threat to their respective positions Investigation established that the companies at stake multipled multi- and bilateral contacts during meetings The operation of the cartel was secret and quite sophisticated: some actors used dedicated cellphones Most of the meetings were held not in professional premises but rather in hotels and restaurants in Paris and in mainland France the Novotel of Lyon Gerland or the one in Lille it acted as a discussion point during a plenary meeting from the cartel on 5 October 2010 presents the goals of the participants from 2010 and 2011 in terms of price and profitability It draws up the list of call for tenders – ongoing or future- with the projections for the market share distribution It points out the markets with « negative or low profitability» which require It is stated that it should « cover all the cost price increases of the products and to enhance the profitability of all the market » The implementation of commun goals involved the distribution of call for tenders organized by the mass retail as well as the ones from food service distributors (“out-of-home catering”) Participants to the cartel also planned compensations to correct the potential volume gains or losses affecting one manufacturer or another if they were not going the way it was previously planned compensations and distribution of tonnage and markets were discussed Andros had for instance to « give volume back » to others (as far as it had earned more than planned in 2010).) and St-Mamet « looking for 1500 tonnes » Horizontal agreements (i.e.; between direct competitors on a same market) consist in secretly agreeing on prices and volums the most serious infringements of competition law which involved the main manufacturers  of compotes sold to food retailers under retailers’ own-brand labels and to food service distributors (“out-of-home catering”) was of national scale and involved consumer goods (fruit mash in cups and pouches) The cartel covered a very important part of the market (90 % on average for retailers’ own-brand labels and 100 % for food service distributors) which deprived the call for tenders organizers of the possibility to introduce competition and get the best prices Competitors aimed at removing incertainty – on the competitors’ behaviours price evolution- which caracterize a fully competitive market evaulated that fines for a total amount of 58 283 000 euros should be imposed to the companies at stake considering its cooperation in the leniency procedure The Autorité found aggravating circumstances against Materne taking into consideration the fact that the the company played a very active role in organizing the cartel In order to guarantee that the sanctions were set a dissuasive level the Autorité also increased the fine against Délis and Vergers de Châteaubourg (owned by Lactalis) Andros (owned by Andros et Cie) and Conserves France (owned by Conserve Italia Societa Cooperativa Agricola) taking into consideration that the four companies were owned by groups with a strong economic power and important ressources « perturbed » the functioning of the cartel by acting as a « maverick » (meaning that it still caried an aggressive commercial policy to win market share) The leniency procedure enables companies which are participating or participated in a cartel to reveal its existence to the Autorité et to benefit from a partial or total exemption of the fine depending on the order in which they refered the case to the Autorité on the added value of the evidence brought forward and their cooperation during the investigation Most of the cartels were dismantled by the Autorité through the leniency procedure.