North American IMS/PCB book-to-bill ratio holds steady in December

JANUARY 25--IPC--Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Bannockburn, IL, USA; www.ipc.org), a global trade association of 2400 member companies representing all facets of the electronic interconnection industry, including design, printed-circuit-board manufacturing, and electronics assembly, has announced its findings from its monthly Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for December 2006 held steady at 0.92. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio edged up to 0.90.

Rigid PCB shipments are up 1.8%, and bookings are down 12.5% in December 2006 from December 2005. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are up 8.8% and bookings are up 4.8%. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 2.3% from the previous month and rigid bookings increased 9.3% from the previous month.

Flexible circuit shipments in December 2006 were down 5.7% and bookings were down 27.9% compared to December 2005. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments are up 5.5% and bookings are down 12.1%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments from the survey sample increased 12.5% and flex bookings increased 35.6%.

For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in December 2006 increased 1.2% from December 2005, and orders booked decreased 14.1% from December 2005. Year to date, combined industry shipments are up 8.6% and bookings are up 3.5%. Combined industry shipments for December 2006 are up 3.0% over the previous month and bookings are up 11.1% over the previous month.