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November 2007 Book-to-Bill Remains Positive
December 17, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
BANNOCKBURN, Ill. IPC Association Connecting Electronics Industries announced today the November findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The book-to-bill ratio for rigid and flex PCB production continued its positive trend, hitting 1.06.
Rigid PCB shipments are down 9.6% and bookings are up 11.8% in November 2007 from November 2006. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 9.1% and bookings are down 8.0%. Compared to the previous month, rigid PCB shipments decreased 1.7% and rigid bookings decreased 4.1%. The book-to-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in November 2007 was 1.06.
Flexible circuit shipments in November 2007 were down 1.6% and bookings were up 12.6% compared to November 2006. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are down 6.4% and bookings are up 5.5%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments were up 16.3% and flex bookings rose 4.3%. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill fell back to 1.02 in November.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in November 2007 decreased 9.1% and orders booked increased 11.8% from November 2006. Year to date, combined industry shipments are down 9.0% and bookings are down 7.2%. Compared to the previous month, combined industry shipments for November 2007 are down 0.6% and bookings are down 3.5%. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in November 2007 remained positive at 1.06.
"November PCB industry sales in North America continued just slightly under last year's sales for the same month," said Denny McGuirk, IPC president, adding that the book-to-bill ratios have remained positive and the fundamentals appear to be in good shape.
Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment. Rigid PCBs represent an estimated 88% of the current PCB market in North America, according to IPC's "World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report for the Year 2006."
IPC's monthly survey of the North American PCB industry tracks bookings and shipments from U.S. and Canadian facilities, which provide indicators of regional demand. These numbers do not measure U.S. and Canadian PCB production. To track regional production trends, however, IPC asks survey participants for the percent of their reported shipments that were produced domestically (i.e., in the USA or Canada). In November 2007, 84% of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 84% of rigid PCB and 88% of flexible circuit shipments in November by IPC's survey participants.
Flexible circuit sales typically include value-added services such as assembly, in addition to the bare flex circuits. In November, the flexible circuit manufacturers in IPC's survey sample indicated that bare circuits accounted for about 54 percent of their shipment value reported for the month. This is considerably lower than the typical proportion of bare circuits in flexible circuit sales. Assembly and other services, however, make up a large and growing segment of flexible circuit producers' business.
For more information, visit www.ipc.org.