-
- 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
IPC Releases Book-to-Bill Ratio for December 2004
February 2, 2005 |Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
BANNOCKBURN, Ill. — IPC—Association Connecting Electronics Industries announces the findings from its monthly PCB Statistical Program.
IMS/PCB Book-to-Bill RatioThe North American PCB Industry Book-to-Bill Ratio for December 2004 bounced back up to 1.04 after a one-month dip below parity (1.00). This ratio is based on monthly data collected from both rigid PCB and flexible circuit producers that participate in IPC's monthly PCB Statistical Program. Separately, the book-to-bill ratios in December 2004 were 0.93 for rigid PCBs and 1.41 for flexible circuits.
The 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 the companies in IPC's survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which indicates probable near-term growth.
Total Industry GrowthFor rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry sales billed (shipments) in December 2004 increased 8.7% from December 2003, and orders booked increased 30.6% from the same period. Compared to 2003, shipments of PCBs are up 26.5% year-to-date, while bookings of PCBs are up 25.4%. Combined industry shipments for December 2004 are up 1.6% over the previous month, and bookings are up 73.4%.
The book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment, which represents more than 80% of the current PCB market in North America. The influence of flexible circuits is growing, however, as flexible-circuit shipments have shown stronger growth than rigid PCBs over the past year.
Rigid PCB GrowthRigid PCB shipments are down 1.3%, and bookings are down 6.1% in December 2004 from December 2003. Year-to-date, rigid PCB shipments have increased 16.0%, and bookings have increased 6.6%, compared to the same period in 2003. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 2.7% from the previous month, and rigid bookings increased 21.3% from the previous month.
Flexible Circuit GrowthFlexible-circuit shipments are up 32.0%, and bookings are up 274.3% in December 2004 from December 2003. Year-to-date, flexible circuit shipments have grown 67.4%, and bookings have grown 104.3%, compared to the same period in 2003. Compared to the previous month, flexible-circuit shipments from the survey sample decreased 2.3%, and flex bookings increased 432.7%.
Interpreting the DataFlexible-circuit sales, which include some value-added services in addition to the bare flex circuits, represent about 18% of total PCB sales in IPC's survey sample, which IPC considers to be representative of the industry. It is difficult for most flexible-circuit manufacturers to break out value-added services, such as assembly, from their circuit sales. Therefore, the amount of value-added services included in this industry segment's sales is not known.
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 may reflect cyclical effects. Because bookings tend to be more volatile than shipments, changes in the book-to-bill ratios from month to month may not be significant, unless a trend of three consecutive months or more is apparent.