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IPC Releases Book-to-Bill for December 2005
Written by Tracy Heffner
Wednesday, 01 February 2006
BANNOCKBURN, IL – IPC, Association Connecting Electronics Industries, has released the results from its monthly PCB Statistical Program.
The North American rigid PCB industry book-to-bill ratio for December 2005 remained at 1.09, but the North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio dropped to 0.95. These ratios are based on monthly data collected from PCB producers that participate in IPC’s monthly PCB Statistical Program. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in December 2005 stayed positive at 1.06. This combined ratio has become less relevant to analysts, however, because of the divergence between the rigid PCB and flexible circuit segments of the industry in growth rates and book-to-bill patterns.
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.
According to the report, rigid PCB shipments are up 9.5% and bookings are up 14.2% in December 2005 from December 2004. Year to date, rigid PCB shipments are down 2.9% and bookings are up 3.9%. Rigid PCB shipments from the survey sample increased 8.7% from the previous month and rigid bookings increased 12.5% from the previous month.
Flexible circuit shipments are said to be up 30.2% and bookings are up 40.3% in December 2005 from December 2004. Year to date, flexible circuits shipments are up 30.3% and bookings are up 19.1%. Compared to the previous month, flexible circuit shipments from the survey sample increased 2.8% and flex bookings increased 2.9%.
For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry sales billed (shipments) in December 2005 increased 13.8% from December 2004, and orders booked increased 20.4% from December 2004. Year to date, combined industry shipments are up 3.4% and bookings are up 7.7%. Combined industry shipments for December 2005 are up 7.2% over the previous month, and bookings are up 9.7% over the previous month.
“Sharp drops in the book-to-bill ratio for flexible circuits are no cause for alarm unless the ratio continues at low levels for several months. This is because bookings in this segment are so volatile,” said IPC President Denny McGuirk. “Flexible circuit sales actually ended the year 30% ahead of 2004. Rigid PCB sales ended the year 3% below the 2004 level. Overall, 2005 sales for the PCB industry as a whole were 3.4% ahead of 2004.” McGuirk concluded.
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 75% 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 two years.
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