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BANNOCKBURN, IL – North American PWB shipments in September were up 21.8% sequentially, while orders increased 31%.

PWB shipments decreased 14.3% year-over-year, while orders dropped 6.4%.

Year to date through September, shipments were down 25.5%, and orders fell 23.4%.

The book-to-bill ratio reached 1.08, up 1 basis point from August. It was the fifth straight month the ratio topped 1.0, the benchmark for a market on the rise.

For the month, rigid PWB shipments declined 15.9% and orders fell 7.8% year-over-year. Year to date, rigid shipments were down 27.3%, while orders dropped 24.7%. Sequentially, rigid shipments grew 21.7%, and orders increased 29.7%. The rigid book-to-bill ratio was flat at 1.09.

Flex shipments in September rose 7.9%, while orders increased 12.1% compared to September 2008. Year to date, flex shipments were down 1.5%, and orders were down 4.9%. Sequentially, flex shipments went up 22%, and orders increased 48.1%. The flex book-to-bill climbed three basis points to 0.95.

A ratio of more than 1.0 suggests current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to six months. A ratio of 1.08 means that for every $100 worth of boards shipped, $108 worth of orders were placed.

In September, 84% of total shipments reported were domestically produced. The remainder were likely built offshore and resold by domestic fabricators.

MILPITAS, CA – Bliss Industries, an OEM of material handling carts and racks for PCB assembly, will holding a new product webinar next week.

Bliss is preparing to launch several products and seeks feedback from users. The firm is offering customers the chance to preview products on Nov. 3 at 11 a.m. PST.

Attendees will receive a 5% discount on any products shown.

For more information, contact Shana Bliss at sbliss@blissindustries.com.

SAN JOSE – The Microelectronics Packaging and Test Engineering Council has finalized the program for its Semiconductor to Solar: Growth Opportunities for the IC Industry symposium, to be held Nov. 19 in Santa Clara, CA.

Steve Hill, president of Kyocera Solar Inc., will keynote with creating new markets: a global solar outlook.

Other presentations include solar PV manufacturing and processing challenges and opportunities from an equipment maker's perspective; a contamination reduction program for improving materials, process tools, manufacturing environment and clean manufacturing; the PV solar market – eclipsed by the financial crisis; solar scaling up – a dynamic industry's growth; accelerating silicon-photovoltaics technology adoption through a new business model; understanding solar performance and degradation; utilization of new semiconductor materials for solar power conversion; a journey from semiconductor to solar: SolarMagic technology; reliability challenges for solar photovoltaics and opportunities for semiconductors; the heart of PV collaboration – PV group: increasing the power of PV via standards, roadmaps, EHS, and partnerships; taking solar energy mainstream: how public policy drives the PV market, and impact of solar panel interconnects on long-term reliability and economics

To register, visit www.meptec.org.

TAIPEI -- Hon Hai (Foxconn Electronics) reported third-quarter net earnings rose 2.7% year-over-year to T$18.31 billion ($562.7 million).

LOS ALTOS, CA -- Huawei and ZTE are grabbing communications equipment market share, driving down prices and reconfiguring the outlook.

DUBLIN – Global electronics equipment production will swing from a record 9.5% contraction in 2009 to a 6.5% gain in 2010, says Research and Markets.

2010 will be a lead-in to an even more robust 10.5% expansion in 2011, the research firm predicts.

The ongoing industry recovery will gather considerable momentum during the next two years, according to the firm.

In the near-term, double-digit unemployment rates and the need to rebuild ravaged nest eggs will undercut consumer purchases of cars and electronic products, the firm predicts. And profit-challenged corporations awash in excess operating capacity will be in no hurry to invest in new IT hardware. Moreover, because banks will be focused on rebuilding their own depleted capital bases, they will retain restrictive lending policies well into next year.

BUCKS, UK – The Smart Group recognized nine members as Fellowship recipients for extraordinary contributions to the association.

Recipients included Peter Allgood of Allgood Technology; Iain Braddock of MBDA UK; Steve Eglington and Ingmar Grewar of PEM Professional Electronic Manufacturing South Africa; Dr. Chris Hunt of National Physical Laboratory; Naim Kapadia of JJS Electronics; David Llewellyn of DEK; Martin Tarr of Smart Group Scotland, and Rex Waygood of Hansatech EMS.

The awards were presented at the Smart Group’s 25th Anniversary Conference.

In presenting the awards, honorary life vice president Peter Swanson said, “Smart Fellowships are awarded to individuals to thank them for their active past year. The list includes Smart members who are regular attendees or extraordinary contributors to the association’s seminars, forums and events. They do not have to be a committee member to be a valued Smart participant. Being a regular attendee, asking questions or using the benefits of membership is just as important. These activities inspire the spread of technology throughout the member’s company, the Smart Group and the industry itself.”

TAIPEI – Compal Electronics expects fourth-quarter notebook shipments to increase 10% sequentially, a company executive said.

The firm shipped 10.6 million notebooks in the three months ended Sept. 30.

Compal’s new forecast for laptop shipments this year is 36.5 million units.

Compal is the second-largest contract notebook computer maker globally by revenue, behind Quanta Computer.

ARLINGTON, VA – Consumer confidence in the overall economy improved, while confidence in technology and consumer electronics fell slightly in October, according to the Consumer Electronics Association and CNET.

The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Expectations climbed five points to 174.1 in October.

The ICE, which measures consumer expectations about the broader economy, is up 10.4 points from this time last year, and has climbed in three of the last six months.

“Consumers were met with positive news regarding economic recovery this month,” said Anne Claudio, vice president of research at CBS Interactive. “The stock market rallied to levels not reached in years, while optimism is being expressed by economic leaders that the end of the recession is near.”

The CEA-CNET Index of Consumer Technology Expectations declined four points this month. The ICTE, which measures expectations for buying CE and spending more on CE products and services, is up 3.1 points year-over-year.