24 The PCB Design Magazine • November 2014
PCB007
News highlights
Q3 PCB/EMS Market Snapshot
i-Connect007's latest market survey—a one-min-
ute survey designed to provide a snapshot of the
current state of the PCB and eMs industries—of-
fers a good sampling to give us a snapshot of
where we've been and where we're headed.
FTG's Circuits Segment Sales up
$1.9M in Q3
"FTg's momentum has continued in Q3 2014 with
strong results across the corporation, particularly
at our Circuits business and the two new aero-
space facilities in Tianjin and Chatsworth where
we continued to see progress on qualification ac-
tivities, strong orders, and increased shipments,"
stated Brad Bourne, president and Ceo.
IPC Report Shows Moderate Growth
Through 2017
among PCB product types, hDi/microvia boards
experienced the highest growth rate in 2013. Data
on vertical markets for PCBs show that communi-
cations and military/aerospace are the two largest
PCB markets in North america, together account-
ing for approximately 57% of the North american
PCB market in 2013.
Germany Records highest PCB
Sales Since 2011
The automotive electronics sector drove germany's
PCB market in July, helping the industry record its
highest sales since 2011, according to zvei.
Aspocomp Consolidates Operation:
May Close Teuva Plant
as part of aspocomp's strategic transformation,
the company has issued a notice on statutory la-
bor co-determination concerning all its personnel
at the Teuva plant regarding the consolidation of
production in Finland and the possible closing of
the Teuva plant.
PCB Industry Slowdown Continues
in August
"august business results for the North american
PCB industry continued slightly below last year's
levels," said sharon starr, iPC's director of market
research, "but the PCB book-to-bill ratio continued
hovering near parity and actually strengthened a
bit in august. Flat growth is still expected for the
remainder of 2014."
Colonial Assumes Vermont Circuits'
Customer Base
Mark osborn, president and founder of Colonial
Circuits, announced recently that his company has
acquired vermont Circuits' customer base and will
be offering a smooth transition for those former
customers.
Wurth Elektronik's Flex PCBs
Achieve uL Mark
after a time-intensive and close coordination with
the ul engineers, an enormous amount of test pat-
terns and high costs, Würth elektronik was able to
record a big achievement: Four flex-rigid PCBs re-
ceived the ul listing.
Viasystems Challenges EPA's CDR Cycle
Congressman Bill Johnson (r-oh) sent a letter to
u.s. environmental Protection agency (ePa) ad-
ministrator gina McCarthy requesting an analysis
of reporting data pertaining to by-products sent
for recycling collected during the 2012 Chemical
Data reporting (CDr) reporting cycle.
IPC: PCB Market Down 2.2%;
Production Value at $59.4B
The world market for PCBs declined an estimated
2.2% in real terms in 2013, although real growth
in North america was positive at 0.8%, according
to iPC's "World PCB Production report for the Year
2013."
24 The PCB Design Magazine • November 2014
