BANNOCKBURN, IL — North American printed circuit board fabricators reported November shipments rose 17.2% over last year. 

Sales and orders in November were strong and continued to outpace last year, IPC said in a press release.

The book-to-bill ratio fell 30 basis points sequentially to 1.08. 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.

Sales through November are up 7.7% year-to-date, and were up 0.7% from October.

Bookings increased 11.1% year-over-year, bringing the year-to-date order growth up 4.4%. Bookings in November fell 18.6% sequentially.

“Business is booming for the North American PCB industry as sales and orders outpace last year’s performance by a substantial margin,” said Sharon Starr, director of market research, IPC. “A strong book-to-bill ratio following three months of positive ratios indicates the likelihood for continued sales growth through the first quarter of 2020.”