-
- News
- Books
Featured Books
- smt007 Magazine
Latest Issues
Current IssueBox Build
One trend is to add box build and final assembly to your product offering. In this issue, we explore the opportunities and risks of adding system assembly to your service portfolio.
IPC APEX EXPO 2024 Pre-show
This month’s issue devotes its pages to a comprehensive preview of the IPC APEX EXPO 2024 event. Whether your role is technical or business, if you're new-to-the-industry or seasoned veteran, you'll find value throughout this program.
Boost Your Sales
Every part of your business can be evaluated as a process, including your sales funnel. Optimizing your selling process requires a coordinated effort between marketing and sales. In this issue, industry experts in marketing and sales offer their best advice on how to boost your sales efforts.
- Articles
- Columns
Search Console
- Links
- Events
||| MENU - smt007 Magazine
August Book-to-Bill Climbs to 1.06
October 1, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
BANNOCKBURN, Ill. The combined rigid and flex PCB industry book-to-bill for North America rose to 1.06 in August, according to IPC's North American PCB statistical program. While bookings and shipments are down from August 2006 in both segments by about 10%, production looks to be strong through the next quarter, said Denny McGuirk, IPC president.
Rigid PCBs account for about 88% of the current North American PCB market. Shipments for rigid PCBs were down 10.1% from August 2006; bookings were down 5.1%. Year-to-date, rigid PCBs dropped 10.4% in shipments and 13.4% in bookings. Compared to July 2007, billings rose 9.8% and bookings increased 12.8%. August 2007 saw a rigid PCB book-to-bill of 1.06.
Flexible circuits posted a 24.7% decline in shipments and a 10.0% drop in bookings from August 2006. Year-to-date, flex shipments are down 5.4%; bookings are up 6.3%. Compared to the previous month, flex shipments climbed 0.4% and bookings rose by 17.7%. The flex circuit book-to-bill for August hit 1.07.
Combined, the flex and rigid PCB market fell 11.1% in billings and 5.4% in bookings from the same month last year. Year-to-date, shipments are down 10.1% and bookings are down 12.3%, leading to the 10% lag to which Denny McGuirk refers in his analysis. Compared to July 2007, shipments of flex and rigid PCBs increased 9.2%; bookings climbed 13.1%.
IPC found that 87% of total PCB shipments in August 2007 were domestically produced 86% of rigid PCBs and 97% of flex circuits were manufactured in North America. Flex circuit manufacturers in the survey reported that bare circuits accounted for about 84% of total shipment values.
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 two to three months. For more information, visit www.ipc.org.