Circuits Assembly Online Magazine - Features

BANNOCKBURN, IL – The September 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 8.5% year-on-year, while bookings fell 0.4%, according to the latest poll of North American PCB fabricators.

A large percentage of the production includes boards built offshore and distributed by North American vendors. According to IPC, 33% of the shipments reported were produced offshore.

The domestic book-to-bill ratio fell 0.05 points to 1.13. The ratio is based on data collected by IPC from rigid and flex producers and is calculated by dividing three months worth of orders by sales. A ratio over 1.0 is considered an indicator of rising demand.

The ratio for rigid PCBs rose 0.07 points to 1.14, while that of flexible circuits dropped 0.42 points to 1.10.

“Rigid PCB sales in October continued a bit below last year, but the increase in bookings suggests that this segment of the industry will have a solid fourth quarter,” said IPC in a statement. “The sudden decrease in October bookings for flex was a surprise, but it is not a cause for alarm. Monthly bookings tend to be very volatile in the flex segment.”

Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up more than 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 3.6% in October vs. a year ago. Bookings rose 31.5% during the month.

Flex sales rose 49.1% and bookings dropped 62.7%. Value-added services made up 78% of the shipment value of flex circuits.

Year-to-date, rigid shipments are down 4.6% and bookings are up 1.5%. Flex bookings are up 29.9% and shipments are up 17%. Shipments of all boards are up 1.9% and bookings are up 5.3%.

Sequentially, combined shipments were down 10.2% vs. September, while bookings were down 35.9%. Rigid shipments were down 18.3% and bookings fell 12.8%. Flex shipments fell 14.7% and bookings were down 77.3% vs. September.

Sixty-seven percent of PCB shipments reported was domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 85% of rigid PCB and 29% of flexible circuit shipments in September, IPC said.

In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.

EL SEGUNDO, CA – IBM and Microsoft once teamed up to dominate the PC market. Can they make history repeat itself in the video-game console business?

A teardown of Microsoft’s new Xbox 360 Premium video-game console conducted by research firm iSuppli indicates that IBM silicon is a key factor driving the cost and functionality of the product. iSuppli's analysis found the total bill of materials cost for the new Xbox reaches $525, well above the retail price of $399.

BRUSSELS -- Members of a task force on classification and labeling representing EU member states confirmed on Nov. 16 that Tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) is not subject to any classification for health. This decision follows the EU human health risk assessment, completed last May, which concluded that TBBPA presents no risk to human health.

MINNEAPOLIS -- The SMTA is seeking abstracts for the Third International Conference and Exhibition on Green Manufacturing and Industry Development for Electronic Products.

The trade group is seeking papers on green electronic product design and manufacturing, SMT and service adaptability, green materials, retrieving and recycling of waste products and other topics.

The conference will be held May 13-14, 2006, in Tianjin, China.

Abstracts of 200 to 400 words should be submitted by Jan. 30, to SMTA administrator JoAnn Stromberg. It is expected that papers will be presented in Mandarin or with translation.

For full details on submitting an abstract: joann@smta.org.; smta.org/education/education.cfm#call.

PALO ALTO, CA – HP’s server revenue growth outpaced that of all other major server vendors worldwide, according to third quarter 2005 figures from research group IDC.

HP was No. 1 in total worldwide revenue for the three major operating systems of Windows, Linux and Unix individually as well as combined – together, these three operating systems comprise more than 95% of units shipped and 80% of revenue worldwide.

Clinton, NY – Bill Brunstedt has joined Indium Corp. as Asia-Pacific market development manager. Based in Singapore, he will manage the business development efforts for the region, focusing on new and existing regional markets, general market strategies and new product requirements.

Brundstedt spent the last 21 years with BTU International, most recently as managing director for the Asia Pacific region.

Indium is a supplier of electronics assembly materials, including solder pastes, solder preforms, fluxes, Pb-Free solder alloys, underfill materials, die-attach materials and more.