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Designed to support both low- and high-volume manufacturing, the Rosarito facility’s capabilities include: Panasonic surface-mount Lines; JukiFlex lines; a Universal Radial and Axial insertionlLine; five, seven and 12 zone ovens; Gen-Rad in-circuit testers; Air-Vac BGA rework; and CR Technology AOI machines.
HERNDON, VA — A set of recommendations issued today call for continued availability of tin-lead compatible components for products exempted from European restrictions. The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative today said the measures are necessary in order to safeguard the dependability of high-reliability products as the supply chain converts to lead-free components and materials.
BANNOCKBURN, IL – The July 90-day moving average shipments of all types of circuit boards rose 4.7% year-on-year, and bookings rose 4.1%, 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, 32% of the shipments reported were produced offshore, up from 26% in June.
The domestic book-to-bill ratio rose 0.03 points to 1.16. 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 was down 0.02 to 0.99, while that of flexible circuits rose 0.20 points to 1.71.
Rigid board shipments, estimated by IPC to make up more than 75% of all domestic PCBs, were down 2.7% in July vs. a year ago. Bookings fell 11.9% during the month.
Flex sales rose 32.7% and bookings jumped 53.3%. Value-added services made up 56% of the shipment value of flex circuits.
“July is historically a slower month than June for PCB sales,” IPC said in a statement. “Yet the book-to-bill ratios for flexible circuits and combined PCBs continued to rise in July, due to the spike in flexible circuit bookings in June and the trend for flexible circuit bookings to outpace shipments substantially, which continued in July.”
Year-to-date, rigid shipments are down 6.4% and bookings are off 3.8%. Flex bookings are up 16.1% and shipments are up 25.6%. Shipments of all boards are down 0.2% and bookings are up 0.1%.
Sequentially, combined shipments were down 16.4 over June, while bookings fell 27%. Rigid shipments were down 19.4% and bookings were off 19%. Flex shipments fell 6.7% and bookings were down 37.9% over June.
Sixty-eight percent of PCB shipments reported was domestically produced. Domestic production accounted for 81% of rigid PCB and 32% of flexible circuit shipments in July, IPC said.
In a statement, IPC cautioned that month-to-month comparisons should be made with caution as they may reflect cyclical effects.
SPOKANE, WA -- Key Tronic Corp. said fiscal fourth-quarter earnings rose to $2.8 million, up from $265,000 a year ago. The electronic manufacturing services firm said revenue grew 20% to $53.2 million for the quarter ended July 2.
Catalyst Manufacturing Services will purchase the subsidiary, TFS Electronic Manufacturing Services Inc., in a deal worth about $6.6 million. Catalyst will pay $3.6 million in cash and assume certain liabilities of TFS EMS.
