TEMPE, AZ – Economic activity in the manufacturing sector expanded in September for the 26th consecutive month, but the supply chain is anxious over the future, says the Institute for Supply Management.

The September PMI was up 1 percentage point from August to 51.6%. New orders were flat at 49.6%, and production rose 2.6 points to 51.2%. Inventories dropped a slight 0.3 to 52%, and customer inventories were up 2.5 percentage points to 49%.  Backlogs fell 4.5 points to 41.5%, the lowest level since April 2009 (40.5%).
 
“Respondents generally reflect concern over the sluggish economy, political and policy uncertainty in Washington, and forecasts of ongoing high unemployment that will continue to put pressure on demand for manufactured products,” said ISM spokesperson Bradley J. Holcomb.
 
The overall economy grew for the 28th consecutive month, the firm says.

BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American printed circuit board shipments in August decreased 4.4% year-over-year, as orders fell 8%, says IPC.

WASHINGTON, DC — The 90-day average worldwide sales of semiconductors grew 2.2% year-over-year in August on higher demand for PCs.

SCOTTSDALE, AZ – Blu-ray players are expected to reach 105 million units shipped in 2015, says In-Stat.

 “DVD players and recorder shipments will decline over the next five years for most regions.  By 2015, DVD recorders will be essentially phased out entirely, with only negligible shipments to Japan,” says Norm Bogen, VP digital entertainment. “Blu-ray recorders will replace DVD recorders, and many consumers of recorders will even drop the physical disk media option altogether and instead opt for a player with a large hard drive or a DMS in which to store DLNA-certified and other digital video content.”    

BD players shipped to North America in 2010 represented 38% of the total Blu-ray player and recorder market.

Japan accounts for the majority of Blu-ray recorders, and Europe is the main market for DVD recorders.

At the end of 2010, more than 15% of Netflix subscribers opted for Blu-ray subscriptions.

The Chinese market for Blu-ray has been stalled by the lower prices of the local CBHD standard.