January 28, 2004 – Electronics trade association IPC, Northbrook, IL, said the book-to-bill for North American interconnect manufacturing services (IMS) and printed circuit board (PCB) companies was 1.11 in December 2003, with orders up 12.2% and sales up 2.9% from a year ago. For the year, however, shipments were down 16.8% compared with 2002, and orders were down 6%.

The IPC said companies it surveyed indicated that while the North American PCB market has contracted, those remaining are faring better than they were a year ago.