Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1477844
14 SMT007 MAGAZINE I SEPTEMBER 2022 makers stopped placing orders early in the pan- demic. At the same time, orders from every- one else picked up, and semiconductor fabs started satisfying those other orders. Now that demand for other durable and consumer goods is slowing, they can say, "We now have capac- ity, we can go back to serving some of these markets that we were serving in the past." I see that shuffle taking place. at's why I talked transportation and the port situation because they are signs that everything is shuffling back to where it was. Johnson: What numbers does IPC track for semiconductors and components? How much market insight do we have through IPC data into how the semiconductor products are flowing? DuBravac: When it comes to other compo- nents, we're working on gathering data for lead times. We haven't historically tracked semicon- ductors because other associations are doing that, like the Semiconductor Industry Associa- tion (SIA). At IPC, we have good visibility into PCB and EMS data, and the orders there. As you look at the book-to-bill for PCBs, we've seen that come down somewhat. It's still tracking at around one, meaning shipments are matching orders. We still have good order flow there, but you see shipments accelerate, which is a good sign the supply chain is healing when those shipments pick up. Each month, I look closely at EMS company data and how ship- ments look relative to orders from the prior month with the presumption that you've got a two- to four-week lag between when the order comes in and when the product is ship- ping out. When supply chains were very tight, you saw that shipments were weak relative to the prior month's orders. at relationship has improved and the numbers are healthier. e book-to-bill is still quite strong in EMS provid- ers. It's a positive sign. Johnson: It's likely a factor in the easing of the supply chain for components. DuBravac: Definitely. Semiconductors got all the headlines, but I spoke with a company recently, and was essentially told, "Normally when we might be placing an order for a hun- dred parts, one will pop up with a price change, or a change in the availability, which leads to a delay. Now it's 50% or 60% of the compo- nents popping up with warnings that the price has changed, there's a stockout, or a lead time change." One of the unspoken strains on com- panies was that suddenly it was a multi-per- son, full-time job just to keep on top of what's stocked out, how prices change, the lead times, and other places to find a product. ere's been a very big strain on staff within all electronics manufacturing. It's a strain on their bandwidth and staff time. But it's improving. It will never get to where we want it to be, but supply chains are designed to handle disruptions. We saw more disruption than ever in the past 18 months, but supply chains are resilient and adaptive; they adjust. It doesn't mean there wasn't stress, but compa- nies that are making products, given the head- winds they've experienced, have been unsung heroes in the past two years with respect to their ability to continue sourcing components, building products, and shipping them out.