European PCB industry calls for help
In May, analytics company Weiss Engineering, better known by its brand name in4ma, took over the research activities of Michael Gasch, who died at the age of 78 on May 24, 2024. He has therefore been working on monthly B2B statistics for the European PCB industry for the past three months and is in the process of further developing Data4PCB. The latest data remains alarming.
Recently published by a group of analysts led by Dieter G. Weiss shows that the European PCB industry's B2B (Book To Bill) ratio remained below 1.0 for most months, indicating that billings were higher than bookings and the order book was steadily shrinking.
Data4PCB reports that the same situation can now be seen with European EMS manufacturers, who are instead ordering even more PCBs from the Far East.
“This situation cannot simply be observed, but action is needed to prevent the disappearance of the European PCB industry, which currently accounts for only 1.8% of global PCB production” – writes the Data4PCB team in its latest report.
Data4PCB's activities, supported by several suppliers to the PCB industry, such as DuPont, CCI Eurolam, Comintel, Global Technology, MPM Environment Intelligence, MSC Polymer, Schmoll Maschinen, Uniontool and Ventec, recently gained a new sponsor - IPC.
