October 2011, the North American PCB data research
International IPC-Association Connecting Electronics Industries ? 2011 30 announced the monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Outline - 10 months of data findings are as follows:
PCB industry book to bill ratio and growth rate revealed
From October 2010 to October 2011, PCB shipments fell hard board 9.4%, orders fell 1.0%. Year to date, PCB shipments are down hard board 1.3%, orders fell 9.8%. Compared with the previous month, PCB board shipments fell hard 10.3%, a growth rate of order 0. Hard-board PCB industry in North America in October 2011 remained at 0.99 shipping orders.
Compared with October 2011, flexible circuit shipments decreased by 11.3%, orders fell 10.3%. Year to date, flexible circuit shipments increased 0.3%, orders rose 1.7%. Compared with the previous month, flexible circuit shipments decreased by 25.8% and 14.3% decline in flexible orders. October 2011 North America soft PCB book to bill ratio dropped to 0.95.
PCB board and flexible circuit board hardware combined industry shipments from October 2010 to October 2011 decreased 9.6%, orders fell 0.1%. Year to date, combined industry shipments fell 1.1%, orders fell 8.8%. Compared with the previous month, October 2011, with industry shipments fell 11.9%, orders fell 1.4%. October 2011 combined (rigid board and flexible board) industry book to bill ratio remained at 0.99.
Book to bill ratio of the calculation by the companies in IPC's survey sample value of orders in the last three months divided by the value of sales within the same time. Ratio of more than 1.00 indicate that the current demand is higher than supply, which is the next two to three months a positive sales growth indicates.
PCB board and flexible circuit boards hard combination book to bill ratio and growth rates are hard PCB board area seriously affected. According to IPC World PCB production reports, hard board on behalf of an estimated 89% of PCB's current North American PCB industry.