Friday, October 04, 2013 | Terry Costlow, IPC
Asia’s dominant role in the printed board world is highlighted in the latest figures for international PCB sales. Growth in all other regions was negative, but Asia’s 3.5% increase was enough to boost worldwide sales by 1.7%.
China’s role is dominant--it produces more than 42% of the world’s printed boards, according to IPC’s World PCB Production Report for the Year 2012. Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, the next largest suppliers, collectively make nearly the same percentage, leaving a scant 16% for the United States, Europe, and other countries.
While many executives throughout the electronics supply chain analyze the voluminous data in the report, few will muse about the complex background story on how data is gathered and analyzed.
A number of analysts work year round to get input from around the globe. Michael Gasch of Data4PCB, Francesca Stern from BPA Consulting, N.T. Information’s Hayao Nakahara and Phil Plonski of Prismark Partners share their data with Sharon Starr, IPC’s director of market research. Though they gather huge volumes of data, they are still striving to reach more of the small producers scattered around the globe.
“Nobody’s able to collect all the information, we all have our own estimates on production and our own areas of specialization,” Starr said.
Though this team has worked together for many years, they still have some differences. They are passionate about their data, so it’s sometimes difficult to find common ground for figures that everyone accepts.
“We pool our data and compare and debate until we reach a consensus on the numbers,” Starr said.
Much of this work is completed in a one-day meeting where they compare findings and discuss differences. As with most collective efforts, it’s not unusual for the group to continue its discussions via e-mail and through a conference call or two after the meeting. But the real work starts long before that. One team member, Hayao Nakahara, spends most of the year traveling and personally visiting PCB manufacturers worldwide. Others, such as IPC, conduct surveys throughout the year. Survey-based data from other PCB industry associations around the world are also reviewed. It takes until the end of April to collect final data on PCB production in the prior year. Then the analysts go to work pulling information together and pining what the numbers mean. The team’s discussions and searches continue into the summer, when the World PCB Production Report is finalized and published.
