MUNICH -- Manufacturers of SMT placement equipment saw first-quarter bookings set a record, boosted by a strong March, especially among Western electronics assembly companies.

First-quarter sales rose 7% sequentially, continuing their gains.

Bookings for SMT production equipment in March rose 53% over February.

"The outlook continues to be positive, said ASM Assembly Systems' market researchers.

Regionally, the West continued to make gains against the East. "While the overall picture is positive, there are differences between regional markets. Europe, North America and South America continued their steady rise after making it through the crisis and established themselves as the growth drivers in early 2011 with 66% more order bookings compared with the first quarter of 2010," ASM said.

Shipments in China rose 11%, but first-quarter bookings fell 10% from 2010. Asia is moving toward more advanced and flexible placement solutions, the company said.

ASM is the OEM behind the Siplace line of placement machines formerly owned by Siemens.

"The overall picture continues to be very positive, as indicated by the development of order bookings in the first quarter," said Stephanie Pepersack, director of market intelligence at Siplace.

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