42 The PCB Magazine • August 2014
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Conference Board ETI Up 6.3% in June
"the rapid increase in the employment trends
Index in recent months suggests that strong job
growth is likely to continue through the summer,"
said gad levanon with the conference Board.
"While the strong labor market signals an im-
provement in economic growth, the key factor is
that the average productivity of workers will need
to rise as well."
Global LCD TV Shipments to Gain
3% This year
WitsView research director Burrell liu noted, "tV
panel pricing is expected to remain flat or increase
throughout august into september but this is still
yet to be fully determined, as end sales perfor-
mance and whether vendors' inventories are pil-
ing up will still all make a difference. the same will
apply to notebook and monitor panels."
Consumer Confidence Index on the Rise
the conference Board consumer confidence In-
dex, which had increased in May, improved again
in June. the Index now stands at 85.2 (1985=100),
up from 82.2 in May. the Present situation Index
increased to 85.1 from 80.3, while the expecta-
tions Index rose to 85.2 from 83.5 in May.
Consumer Healthcare Sensor Market
at $47.40B by 2020
the sensor market in consumer healthcare is ex-
pected to reach $47.40 billion by 2020 growing
at an estimated cagr of 5.56% from 2014–2020.
the developments in sensing technologies can
help to increase the trend of continuous patient
monitoring, which can result in reduced health-
care costs and improved treatment outcomes.
Solar Makers Seen to Boost
Production Capacity
solar PV supply chains are starting to see demand
in china whither, while demand in the united
states and Japan remain stable, according to ener-
gytrend. as such trends occur, solar supply chains
are expected to increase production capacity in
the second half of 2014.
Global 3D Printing Forecast to 2019
the 3d printing market has seen rapid growth
in recent years due to its increasing applications
across different sectors such as consumer products
and electronics, automotive, medical, industrial,
and aerospace. decreasing cost of 3d printers and
its increasing adoption across the government and
education sectors is further expected to spur the
demand in the coming years.
Tablets to Bridge the Gap
with Smartphones
new analysis from frost & sullivan finds that by
2016, the use of smartphones is expected to de-
crease from the current levels of 66% to 58%,
while tablets are expected to increase from 49%
to 56%.
PC Monitor Market Sees Sluggish Q12014
"despite the overall decline, the shipment totals
were stronger than the forecast of 31 million units,"
said Phuong hang, program director, Worldwide
trackers at Idc. "geographically, Japan and the
Middle east and africa (Mea) regions delivered the
largest gains during the first quarter while dell and
hP both experienced solid shipment growth."
Health Monitoring Market to Reach
$2.50B by 2020
the machine health monitoring market is expect-
ed to reach $2.50 at a cagr of 7.16% from 2014
to 2020. Machine health monitoring is an unin-
terrupted assessment of the equipment and ma-
chinery. Machine health monitoring system can
be implemented to reduce plant operating costs
by optimizing maintenance activities and lower-
ing the instances of unscheduled outages. thus it
helps in reducing the overall maintenance costs
and improving the lifetime of equipment.
Digital Signage Revenue Falls Flat
the digital signage industry is facing a formidable
challenge from cheaper, conventional tV pan-
els that replace specialized custom products that
long have differentiated the professional displays
market.
PCB007 Market
News Highlights
42 The PCB Magazine • August 2014
