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January Book-to-Bill Ratio Starts '06 Off Right
February 24, 2006 |Estimated reading time: 1 minute
BANNOCKBURN, Ill. — IPC–Association Connecting Electronics Industries' North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for January 2006 stayed strong at 1.09, and the flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio jumped back up to 1.30. Combined (rigid and flex), the industry book-to-bill ratio also stayed strong at 1.13.
Rigid PCB shipments are up 1.9% and bookings are up 13.0% in January 2006 from one year ago. Flexible circuit shipments are up 16.5% and bookings are down 15.4% year-on-year. For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in January 2006 increased 2.7% from January 2005, and orders booked increased 10.8%.
"The industry's positive results in December continued into January, with both rigid PCB and flexible circuit sales ahead of last year's numbers," says Denny McGuirk, IPC president. "The book-to-bill ratios are also strong, which suggests that the surplus of orders will keep sales healthy in the near term."
In January, 88% of total PCB shipments reported were domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 88% of rigid PCB and 87% of flexible circuit shipments in January by IPC's survey participants. These numbers are significantly affected by the mix of companies in IPC's survey sample, which remains constant throughout each calendar year, but may change at the beginning of each year.
January's flexible circuit manufacturers in IPC's survey sample indicated that bare circuits accounted for about 77% of their shipment value reported for the month. Assembly and other services make up a large and growing segment of flexible circuit producers' business. This figure is also sensitive to changes in the survey sample, which may occur at the beginning of each calendar year.