IPC (Association Connecting Electronics Industries) recently announced the December 2015 findings from its monthly North American Printed Circuit Board (PCB) Statistical Program. Slow sales growth continued in December, bringing 2015 to a close at 0.4% growth over 2014. The book-to-bill ratio returned to parity at 1.00 in December.

Total North American PCB shipments increased 0.6% in December 2015 compared to December 2014. Year-to-date shipment growth remained at 0.4%. Compared to the previous month, PCB shipments were up 6.7%, and PCB bookings rose 1.5% compared to December 2014. Year-to-date order growth in December was up 2.5% over 2014. Orders in December were 6.4% ahead of orders in the previous month.

“Although North American PCB industry sales ended 2015 just slightly ahead of 2014, orders have grown a bit faster,” said Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. “This, and the long run of positive book-to-bill ratios in 2015, falling below parity for just one month, indicate the likelihood of continued slow growth in 2016.”

IPC’s monthly PCB industry statistics are based on data provided by a representative sample of both rigid PCB and flexible circuit manufacturers selling in the U.S. and Canada. IPC publishes the PCB book-to-bill ratio at the end of each month. Statistics for the current month are available in the last week of the following month.

For more information, visit www.IPC.org.