IPC releases PCB report for September 2003 - book to bill at 1.15

IPC announced today the findings from its monthly Interconnect Manufacturing Services (IMS)/Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. The IPC PCB Presidents Council recently selected IMS as a better designation for the PCB industry to better reflect the services provided to customers. IMS/PCB Book-to-Bill Ratio The U.S. IMS/PCB Industry Book-to-Bill Ratio for September 2003 was 1.15. The ratio is calculated by averaging the index numbers for orders booked over the past three months and dividing by the average index numbers for sales billed during the same period. A ratio of more than 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which indicates probable near-term growth. Industry sales billed (shipments) in September 2003 decreased 12.1 percent from September 2002, and orders booked increased 12.9 percent from September 2002. Compared to 2002, shipments of PCBs are down 22.2 percent year-to-date, while bookings of PCBs are down 13.1 percent year-to-date. IMS/PCB Business Report The IMS/PCB Business Report, an IPC statistical report that tracks the dynamics of the U.S. IMS industry, reported the IMS/PCB shipment index was 120.8 and the IMS/PCB booking index was 137.1 for September 2003. The IPC IMS/PCB shipment index in September 2003 increased 19.0 percent from 101.5 in August 2003, and the IPC IMS/PCB booking index in September 2003 increased 8.4 percent from 126.6 in August 2003. These percentages are based on an index that reflects changes in the size of the industry. Data reported by current participants in IPC’s monthly survey, however, tell a different story. These participating companies report that their shipments increased 1.9 percent in September 2003 over September 2002, and that their orders booked increased 33.8 percent in September, year-over-year. Year-to-date, current survey participants report shipments have decreased 3.7 percent and bookings have increased 5.4 percent over the same period in 2002. Together, these figures show a North American PCB industry that has contracted, but the companies that remain in the industry are doing better than last year. The index shows how current PCB shipments and bookings relate to an index point. In this case, 1992 was chosen as the index point because it was a stable growth year for U.S. PCB manufacturers. A shipment index number of 117.0, for example, indicates that shipments are 17 percent higher than average shipments for the same time period in 1992. The indices are calculated by setting the base year (1992) equal to 100 and then multiplying the monthly growth rates of the actual shipments and bookings by the corresponding index number. The information in IPC’s monthly industry statistics is based on data provided by both rigid and flexible PCB manufacturers that participate in IPC’s monthly IMS Statistical Program. These companies represent approximately 60 percent of the U.S. domestic IMS market. IPC publishes the IMS Book-to-Bill Ratio and the IMS Business Report each month. (Statistics for the previous month are not available until the last week of the following month.) For more information, contact IPC Director of Marketing Research Sharon Starr at SharonStarr@ipc.org or 847-790-5317.