California Eastern Laboratories Names Paul Minton CEO
Santa Clara, CA -- Paul Minton has been named CEO of California Eastern Laboratories, a supplier of NEC RF and wireless semiconductors, fiber optic communications components, optocouplers, and solid state relays.
Minton has served CEL for nearly 10 years. He held the post of executive VP until his promotion to president in 2004. He has also served for a number of years on the company's Board of Directors. Minton takes over the CEO position formerly held by Jerry Arden, who will remain active as chairman of the Board of Directors.
"CEL's business has stabilized since the downturn," Arden said, "and Paul has played a key role in the stabilization. We're now developing revenue streams outside our historical transistor business. Paul is taking the helm and will guide CEL into these new markets."
"NEC's GaAs RFIC switch product line has grown substantially and is beginning to enjoy broad market acceptance," Minton stated. "Industry-leading performance, chip-scale packages, and the introduction of low cost CMOS models all have contributed to the success of the line.
"NEC is also embedding this GaAs switch technology in front end modules (FEMs) -- another market into which CEL is moving. Our customers are discovering that few companies offer as complete an FEM 'toolbox' as ours. To complement our switches, we have both GaAs HBT and
e-Mode pHEMT power amplifiers, silicon and SiGe capabilities, and CMOS controller technology all under one roof, giving us a solid competitive position in this expanding market.
"We're also growing revenues outside of RF. In fiber optics, the industry-leading performance of NEC's 10G components has given us a strong position in the convergence of voice, data, and video. We're also applying new technologies to the growing FTTx market. One of our greatest advantages is NEC's product quality and consistency. We're finding it to be unique in a market that seems plagued by products with reliability problems and the inability to meet spec.
"In optoelectronics, we're introducing NEC's new line of high speed digital optocouplers. NEC is the world's largest producer of optocouplers, but has had no high speed (1 to 25 MBd) offering. The technology has been dominated by a single manufacturer, but now CEL is making inroads. The use of NEC devices in a number of high-profile reference designs is helping us to grow sales in the data bus, power supply, motor control, and power-over-ethernet markets.
"We're also putting the finishing touches on our Pb-free program. NEC is ahead of most domestic manufacturers in its conversion and now virtually every part in our catalog can be ordered Pb-free. We may have another advantage: by working closely with our customers to develop new part numbering, ordering, and inventory management protocols, we've helped to ensure that their conversion is smooth and easy, too. From the supply chain horror stories that are beginning to circulate, it appears not every manufacturer has addressed the Pb vs. Pb-free ordering process. It may seem crazy, but some firms have actually changed to Pb-free materials without changing part numbers. Leaded and lead-free parts can be mixed in inventory and impossible to tell apart."
"CEL's world is changing rapidly," Minton concluded. "Globalization, outsourcing, and a variety of other factors are changing the way we do business. I'm looking forward to working with the many talented people at CEL, and with our partners at NEC, to develop new ways to collaborate with our customers. We want to be able to help our customers identify and execute new solutions, and help them deliver the results they have promised their customers and investors."
Source: California Eastern Laboratories