According to IPC (Northbrook, IL), the North American interconnect manufacturing services (IMS)/ printed circuit board (PCB) industry book-to-bill ratio for February remained firm at 1.08. 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.
Shipments in February increased 27.5% year-on-year, while orders booked increased 42%. Shipments of PCBs are up 27.9% year-to-date, with bookings up 30.9%.
The February shipment index was 131.4, up 11.3% from January, and the booking index was 144.4, up 15.3%..
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% higher than average shipments for the same time period in 1992.
Survey participants report shipments have increased 28.6% year-to date and bookings have increased 33.6%.
The information in IPC's monthly industry statistics is based on data provided by PCB manufacturers that participate in the IMS Statistical Program. These companies represent approximately 60% of the U.S. IMS industry.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.
Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. (Herzlia, Israel), a provider of manufacturing process management (MPM), announced that Bosch Security Systems Ltd. has selected eMPower solutions from Tecnomatix Unicam for its manufacturing site in China. Tecnomatix Unicam is a wholly owned subsidiary of Tecnomatix Technologies.
The solutions—including eM-Assembly Expert and eM-Test Expert—will help the company facilitate machine setup and reduce the impact of product changeover in the company's high-mix, low-volume manufacturing environment. Eventually, Bosch plans to extend the application to the shop floors as well. This initiative will begin with the Bosch Security Systems facility in Zhuhai, South China.
Tecnomatix Technologies Ltd. also predicted that sales will rise by 15 to 20% in 2005 on top of the 15% growth projected for 2004, helped by higher demand from manufacturers and cost-cutting efforts.
Tecnomatix, a provider of robotic simulation and engineering software, has weathered a three-year slump by reducing 25% of its work force. Demand started to pick up in the December quarter, as it signed a $50 million contract with a major U.S. automotive maker.
In 2003, the company posted revenue of $86.3 million and a loss of $10.3 million.
The bulk of Tecnomatix's revenue comes from Europe and North America. It is expanding rapidly in China, where it faces the double-edged sword of surging demand and rampant piracy.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reservedDigi-Key Corp. (Thief River Falls, MN) and AVX (Myrtle Beach, SC) have signed a global agreement allowing Digi-Key to distribute AVX products. For AVX, Digi-Key will serve as a channel partner, managing an extensive customer base that includes technology leaders as well as small and emerging customers. AVX will enhance Digi-Key's product offering in a variety of categories allowing customers more choices in component technology.
Mark Larson, president of Digi-Key, said, "Digi-Key's ability to provide off-the-shelf delivery on a broad range of AVX components for both prototype and production needs should translate into a real advantage for Digi-Key's customers."
AVX capacitor products are widely used and Digi-Key meets the specific demands of this important area of the electronics market. Digi-Key offers a variety of standard AVX capacitors, oscillators, varistors and interconnect, as well as more innovative products like the OxiCap, which is a low voltage, non-burn capacitor, ideal for replacing surface-mount device (SMD) aluminum electrolytics.
Digi-Key is a full service provider of prototype/design as well as production volume quantities of electronic components.
Serving a broad range of markets including: telecommunications, data processing, automotive, consumer and medical sectors, AVX serves the passive electronic component and interconnect products industries.
Copyright 2004, UP Media Group. All rights reserved.