BANNOCKBURN, IL — October printed circuit board sales and orders among North American fabricators continued to outpace last year's, IPC announced today.

The 90-day moving average PCB shipments rose 6.2% compared to last year, while falling 8.9% sequentially. Year-to-date sales are up 6.9%.

Bookings rose 2.2% year-over-year and 9.6% sequentially. For the year, orders are up 2.9% over 2018.

“Business for the North American PCB industry continues to outpace last year’s performance,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “The spike in the book-to-bill ratio to a 19-month high reflects the last three months’ recovery in bookings. These results lay the groundwork for continued sales growth in the next two quarters.”

The book-to-bill ratio rose 70 basis points to 1.11, its highest mark of the year. The ratio is calculated by dividing the value of orders booked over the past three months by the value of sales billed during the same period from companies in IPC’s survey sample. A ratio of more than 1.0 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next three to 12 months.

The statistics are based on data provided by a representative sample of rigid PCB and flexible circuit manufacturers selling in the US and Canada.

• Prev
• Next