Siplace benefits from rising new investments in SMT lines

According to analyses conducted by Siemens Electronics Assembly Systems GmbH & Co. KG (SEAS), global deliveries of placement equipment rose by almost 50% from the 4Q/2009 to the 1Q/2010. Siplace’s home market Europe is still below pre-crisis levels in absolute terms, but keeps growing at impressive rates for the third quarter in a row. With this expansion, Europe even exceeded the "growth locomotive" China during the most recent quarter. On the other hand, China has been on a major expansion track for much longer now, steadily posting similar growth rates since the start of 2009. The Siplace team was particularly pleased that it was able to expand its market shares in some cases significantly in its most important sales regions of Europe, China and Southeast Asia. The electronics production market is becoming increasingly dynamic. According to analyses conducted by the Siplace team, the global market is growing each quarter – currently at a rate exceeding 50%. As the clear market leader in Europe, Siplace benefits from the fact that its home region grew disproportionately faster than the global market at a rate of more than 50%. Although this level of growth exceeds that of the Chinese market, China was able to start its recovery from the global financial crisis much sooner. More than half of all placement machines delivered worldwide went to China during the most recent quarter. "Based on our data, one can claim that the recovery has reached all regions. And the market share improvements lead us to believe that our continuous investments in research and development are bearing fruit, and that the new models have strengthened our position in the market", says Stephanie Pepersack, who is in charge of market intelligence at SEAS, about the good last-quarter numbers.