The New Chapter: The Benefits of Continuing Education
It’s Only Common Sense: You’ve Got to Hustle
North American PCB Industry Sales Down 15.8% in June
July 27, 2023 | IPCEstimated reading time: 1 minute
IPC announced the June 2023 findings from its North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The book-to-bill ratio stands at 0.98.
Total North American PCB shipments in June 2023 were down 15.8 percent compared to the same month last year. Compared to the preceding month, June shipments were down 0.8 percent.
PCB bookings in June were down 7.7 percent compared to the same month last year. June bookings were up 0.2 percent compared to the preceding month.
“The PCB book-to-bill improved this month as shipments slowed and orders improved for a second month, but the trend this year remains slower order flow,” said Shawn DuBravac, IPC’s chief economist.
Detailed Data Available
Companies that participate in IPC’s North American PCB Statistical Program have access to detailed findings on rigid PCB and flexible circuit sales and orders, including separate rigid and flex book-to-bill ratios, growth trends by product types and company size tiers, demand for prototypes, sales growth to military and medical markets, and other timely data.
Interpreting the Data
The book-to-bill ratios are calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next three to twelve months. A ratio of less than 1.00 indicates the reverse.
Year-on-year and year-to-date growth rates provide the most meaningful view of industry growth. Month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they reflect seasonal effects and short-term volatility. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month might not be significant unless a trend of more than three consecutive months is apparent. It is also important to consider changes in both bookings and shipments to understand what is driving changes in the book-to-bill ratio.
IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics are based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid PCB and flexible circuit manufacturers selling in the USA and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB book-to-bill ratio by the end of each month.
Share on:
Suggested Items
Are Our Stackup Rules No Longer Valid?
12/19/2024 | Cherie Litson, EPTAC MIT CID/CID+Are the stackup rules we used to follow no longer valid? It depends on what you’re designing. Electrical rules change depending on your circuit. Fabrication rules change depending on which fabricator you’re working with. Today, we just have more options, and sometimes, cost is a bigger rule than anything else. If you search online for information about layer stackups, trace widths, and hole sizes in PCBs, you’ll find a variety of resources.
IPC/WHMA Launches Groundbreaking Online Course on Wire Harness Design
12/18/2024 | IPCIPC/WHMA is excited to announce the launch of its new online instructor-led training course, "Introduction to Wire Harness Design I," available now through the IPC EDGE Learning Management System.
IPC Releases Latest List of Standards and Revisions
12/17/2024 | IPC Community Editorial TeamEach quarter, IPC releases a list of standards that are new or have been updated. To view a complete list of newly published standards and standards revisions, translations, proposed standards for ballot, final drafts for industry review, working drafts, and project approvals, visit ipc.org/status. These are the latest releases for Q4 2024.
IPC, FED Partner for New Design Conference in Vienna
12/12/2024 | Andy Shaughnessy, Design007 MagazineIPC and its German partner FED have teamed up to create a new PCB design conference in Vienna, Austria. The Pan-European Electronics Design Conference (PEDC) is scheduled for Jan. 29-30 at the NH Danube City hotel in Vienna. IPC’s Peter Tranitz, one of the show organizers, discussed how this new show came about, pointing out that, unlike many of the regional conferences in Europe, PEDC will host curated, peer-reviewed presentations, not promotional content or product pitches. Will PEDC become an annual event?
Happy’s Tech Talk #35: Yields March to Design Rules
12/12/2024 | Happy Holden -- Column: Happy’s Tech TalkUltra high density interconnect (UHDI) has many forms, structures, and alternatives, so capturing all the variations and reducing them to design rules has required some departures from traditional IPC design standards. In this column, I’ll be discussing the IPC UHDI design guidelines and standards. The fundamental question is: “Do you need HDI or microvias?”