NOVEMBER 1--IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries (Bannockburn, IL; www.ipc.org) has announced the findings from its monthly Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The North American PCB Industry Book-to-Bill Ratio for September 2004 continued positive at 1.08. 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 September 2004 were 1.01 for rigid PCBs and 1.38 for flexible circuits.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry sales billed (shipments) in September 2004 increased 25.9% from September 2003, and orders booked increased 18.1% from September 2003. Compared to 2003, shipments of PCBs are up 33.5% year-to-date, while bookings of PCBs are up 35.2% year-to-date. Combined industry shipments for September 2004 are up 12.1% over the previous month, and bookings are up 16.6% over the previous month. Both rigid and flex shipments are rebounding from the recession and are showing strong growth, but flex is growing at a faster rate than rigid.
Rigid PCB shipments are up 12.2% and bookings are down 10.1% in September 2004 from September 2003. Year-to-date, rigid PCB shipments have increased 23.3% and bookings have increased 16.8% compared to the same period in 2003. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 12.5% from the previous month and rigid bookings decreased 8.2% from the previous month.
Flexible circuit shipments are up 85.6% and bookings are up 140.1% in September 2004 from September 2003. Year-to-date, flexible circuit shipments have grown 78.5% and bookings have grown 106.5% compared to the same period in 2003. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments from the survey sample increased 10.5% and flex bookings increased 140.9%.