particles

09/01/2006

compiled by Angela Godwin

Cleanroom construction completed

Evergreen Engineering (Eugene, Ore.; www.evergreenengineering.com), an engineering and construction firm serving industries such as bioscience, clean manufacturing, and semiconductor, recently announced that it has completed the design and construction of HemCon Medical Technologies, Inc.’s R&D facility expansion and cleanroom project in Portland, Oregon. HemCon develops, manufactures, and markets technologies to control bleeding and infection resulting from trauma or surgery. Evergreen provided full-service design/build capabilities, including construction of the 4,500-square-foot production cleanroom and installation of the process equipment.

Strong forecast for fab equipment purchases

A forecast published recently by Strategic Marketing Associates (SMA) predicts that wafer fab equipment purchases will grow 10 percent next year, to reach $40 billion in 2007. SMA’s FabFutures™ report forecasts quarterly spending and capacity increases for more than 200 wafer fabs worldwide. According to the report, expected growth can be attributed to an increase in new wafer-fab construction, which began in 2004 and is expected to peak in 2007. George Burns, president of SMA, estimated the industry would bring 35 new fabs on-line by end of 2007. Burns also noted that overall capital spending by wafer fabs worldwide will reach $62 billion in 2007. For more information on the report, visit www.scfab.com.

Solar module facility planned for ‘07

M+W Zander FE GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany) has won a contract to design and construct a new thin-film solar module facility for ErSol Group, a manufacturer and distributor of photovoltaic products, in Erfurt, Germany. M+W Zander plans to have the new plant ready for equipment by the end of January 2007, and ErSol Group expects its 6,000-square-meter facility will be up and running by summer 2007.