As fewer and fewer manufacturers want to put all their production into their own plants, the contract manufacturing business is becoming increasingly lucrative, and companies in it are becoming an attractive commodity, particularly if they have specialist skills. CareAmerica Inc of Kansas City, Missouri, has made its move, acquiring York-Lite SMT Inc, an Austin, Texas-based contract manufacturer of circuit boards using surface mount technology. It paid 180,000 restricted shares of CareAmerica Inc and the assumed liabilities under certain equipment lease agreements. York-Lite SMT’s initial production line has the capacity to produce up to $20m a year in revenues. Surface mount technology is rapidly replacing older and more ex`ensive component mounting technologies. The company uses an advanced Hewlett-Packard machine that handles full function testing of circuit boards, and robotic equipment employing machine vision for high volume automated manufacturing.