Richard Boulanger has been appointed general manager of Kulicke & Soffa Industries Inc.'s die bonder operations located in Berg, Switzerland. A Fort Washington, Pa.-based maker of semiconductor wire bonding assembly equipment, Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) established die bonder operations in Switzerland after its recent acquisition of Alphasem GmbH. Boulanger will assist employees and customers with the transition in addition to his duties in manufacturing, R&D, product development and business operations for the facility, including the development of a next-generation die bonder platform and expansion into new global markets, the company said. Boulanger was formerly vice president of the Advanced Semiconductor Assembly Div. of Universal Instruments Corp., where he helped develop a flip chip on flexible circuit (FCOC) assembly for the hard disk drive industry and package-on-package assembly markets. Previously, he worked for IBM, primarily at its semiconductor assembly and test facility in Bromont, Quebec.