CircuiTree - April 2009 - (Page 8)

IPC Releases PCB Industry Results for Jan 09 BANNOCKBURN, Ill.. — IPC — Association Connecting Electronics Industries announced the January findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Rigid PCB shipments are down 18.9 percent and bookings are down 30.7 percent in January 2009 from January 2008. The bookto-bill ratio for the North American rigid PCB industry in January 2009 slipped further to 0.88. Flexible circuit shipments in January 2009 were up 16.6 percent and bookings were down 1.8 percent compared to January 2008. The North American flexible circuit book-to-bill ratio declined to 0.98. For rigid PCBs and flexible circuits combined, industry shipments in January 2009 decreased 17.0 percent from January 2008, and orders booked decreased 29.3 percent from January 2008. The combined (rigid and flex) industry book-to-bill ratio in January 2009 fell to 0.89. “Sales and orders of rigid PCBs declined sharply in January compared to January 2008, but flexible circuit sales were surprisingly strong,” said IPC President Denny McGuirk. “Orders in both segments of the industry were down compared to last year, and this is reflected in the continuing downward trend of the book-to-bill ratio,” he added. “The industry has not hit the bottom yet, but we will continue to watch the leading indicators, such as our book-to-bill ratio, for signs of an upturn,” McGuirk concluded. The book-to-bill ratios are 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 1.00 suggests that current demand is ahead of supply, which is a positive indicator for sales growth over the next two to three months. Book-to-bill ratios and growth rates for rigid PCBs and fl exible circuits combined are heavily affected by the rigid PCB segment. Rigid PCBs represent an estimated 90 percent of the current PCB industry in North America, according to IPC’s World PCB Production and Laminate Market Report. Every January, IPC opens its monthly statistical programs to new participants, resulting in a slight change in the survey sample. Therefore, January’s month-to-month growth rates are not available. Reporting of month-to-month and year-to-date growth rates will resume next month. Sunstone Circuits Collaborates With National Instruments to Simplify PCB Prototyping Mulino, Ore. – Sunstone Circuits® (Sunstone), the printed circuit board (PCB) prototype solutions provider, has joined forces with National Instruments (NI) to offer an integrated PCB prototype and quick-turn design environment, enabling NI Multisim and NI Ultiboard customers to easily order prototype PCBs via the Sunstone ECOsystem(SM) Design Environment. “Traditionally, the PCB prototype design process included barriers between the design flow and the prototype process. As a result, design problems often do not emerge until the fabrication phase, forcing costly and unnecessary 8 April 2009 • circuitree.com redesigns,” said Terry Heilman, president and CEO of Sunstone. “Through our collaboration with National Instruments, we provide resources, best practices and important manufacturing information to the engineer while they design—not after—which vastly improves productivity. It is yet another reason why Sunstone is the easiest PCB solutions provider to do business with.” Once a prototype design is completed in the Multisim and Ultiboard circuit design tools, customers can easily order PCBs online, via Sunstone, on the NI website: www.ni.com/multisim/network/ sunstone.htm. NI provides Sunstone’s DFM rules and file specifications of the Ultiboard layout tool, helping to ensure board designs will be manufactured cor- rectly the first time. Customers who order through Sunstone may also access Sunstone’s live customer support anytime, 24/7/365. “Through the Sunstone ECOsystem design environment, our users can now access Web resources and technical documentation to easily fabricate their PCB prototypes,” said Vincent Accardi, general manager at National Instruments Electronics Workbench Group. “Prototyping is now simpler than ever for NI customers due to the online ordering, quick prototype turnaround, and more than 35 years of experience that Sunstone brings to the PCB design process. NI has collaborated with Sunstone because we share the mission of simplifying the PCB design experience, and we are proud to have Sunstone 10 http://www.ni.com/multisim/network/sunstone.htm http://www.ni.com/multisim/network/sunstone.htm http://www.circuitree.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CircuiTree - April 2009

CircuiTree - April 2009 Contents Lead Wire The Wire Tech Talk Flexible Thinking New GUI Improves Time to Market for Serial RapidIO System Designs Environmentally Speaking Intelligent Design i-Line UV Lithography and Sub-10μm Feature Size Package Substrate Technologies Guest Column BPA Growth Curves Market Outlook Technical Product Spotlights Classified Ads Upcoming Events Ad Index

CircuiTree - April 2009

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