JP Sercel Associates (JPSA) has hired Larry Roberts as director of engineering. He was the former engineering manager and a principal engineer at Laurier Inc., and previously held positions at companies including EPE Technology, Gillette, Northrop Grumman and Sikorsky Aircraft. Roberts has written several papers on fine-pitch placement, attachments to printed circuit boards and automated handling of 300-mm wafer frames, and he holds patents on high-speed semiconductor placement equipment and alignment systems. He has a master's degree in electrical engineering and a BA in engineering physics. JPSA, of Manchester, N.H., makes excimer and diode-pumped solid-state industrial laser machining systems that operate at wavelengths of 157 to 1064 nm.