FEBRUARY 27--IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Northbrook, IL) has released findings from its monthly Statistical Program. The US printed-circuit-board (PCB) industry book-to-bill ratio for January 2002 was 1.01. Sales billed (shipments) in January 2002 decreased 48.5% from January 2001 and orders booked decreased 39.3% from January 2001.
The ratio is calculated by averaging the number of orders booked over the past three months and dividing by the average sales billed during the same period.
The PCB Business Report, a new IPC statistical report that tracks the dynamics of the US PCB industry, stated that the PCB shipment index was 117.0 and the PCB booking index was 128.3 for January 2002. The IPC PCB shipment index in January 2002 decreased 9.6% from 129.4 in December 2001, and the IPC PCB booking index in January 2002 decreased 4.7% from 134.6 in December 2001.
The index shows how current PCB shipments and bookings relate to an index point. (In this case, 1992 was chosen as the index point because it was a stable growth year for US PCB manufacturers.) A shipment index number of 117.0 indicates that shipments are 17% higher than average shipments for the same time period in 1992. The indices are calculated by setting the base year (1992) equal to 100 and then multiplying the monthly growth rates of the actual shipments and bookings by the corresponding index number.
The information in the IPC's monthly industry statistics is based on data provided by both rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers that participate in IPC's monthly statistical program. These companies represent 60% of the US domestic PCB market.
For more information, contact IPC market research manager John Hassman at[email protected] or 847-790-5320.
