More signs of recovery seen in electronics supply chain, IPC reports
The EMS (electronics manufacturing services) industry was the last segment in the electronics supply chain to feel the effects of the recession and it looks as if EMS will be the last to start its recovery, IPC estimates.
Staff -- EDN, November 10, 2009
Other sectors of the electronics supply chain appear to have reached bottom and some are beginning the long climb back up. US new orders for computer and electronic products remained flat in September. PCB (printed circuit board) shipments and semiconductor shipments both continued to climb in September.
Several indicators support the view that the electronics industry is beginning to recover. One leading indicator that is closely followed by electronics industry analysts is IPC’s PCB book-to-bill ratio. The ratio has been above parity (1.0) since May. It stands at 1.08 as of September. The book-to-bill ratio leads sales in the PCB industry by an average of three to six months. The current trend is a very encouraging sign of expected growth in North American PCB sales for the remainder of 2009 and beyond.
Trends in US computer and electronic products new orders and North American sales indices of selected supplier industries, October 2008 to September 2009
Note on the graph: All indices are based on the same baseline of the average month in 2000=100, and reflect a three-month rolling average.
Sources: IPC statistical programs for the EMS and PCB industries; SIA for semiconductor data; US Census Bureau for US new orders for computer and electronic products.
