The USA printed circuit board manufacturing
industry has seen better days. It was less than a decade ago when the PCB
market was thriving and the USA manufacturing sector was booming as well. Not
only have times changed for the PCB industry, times have changed for also
changed for the North American manufacturing industry as a whole. Down to
roughly 400 expected PCB manufacturing facilities, manufacturing suppliers in
Asia has seen an increase in production due to the amount of customers moving
their PCB business overseas. When USA companies move their PCB fabrication
needs to Asia, they expect longer lead times, but because of Asia’s higher
volume capabilities, see more affordable pricing per unit.
There are a percentage of companies in the
USA who partner with quick turn PCB
manufacturers who can keep up with constant innovation, high level and
high-density PCB specifications. With the increase in
complex circuit boards, PCB shops in Asia haven’t completely kept up with USA
suppliers. PCB fabricators like Custom
Circuit Boards recently invested in more sophisticated drilling machines that
can handle smaller drill sizes in order to keep up with the rapid changing PCB
environment (according to their CEO). These investments have been consistent in
order to improve their PCB house capabilities. You can learn more about their
company and capabilities by visiting their website.
The IPC releases their PCB industry
results for Jan of last year and both rigid and rigid-flex printed circuit
board sales have steady growth compared to prior years. Overall, shipments are
up, but bookings are down. According to the president of the IPC, sales trends
for PCBs are normal and things seem to continue to be stable across the
board.
The book-to-bill ratio
climbed above parity to 1.01 last year for North American flexible circuit
boards.
PCB houses that specialized in quickturn
PCB manufacturing reported that demand is up year after year. Custom Circuit
Board’s quickturn prototyping page recently added a promotion for faster lead
times for the month of May. We have noticed that various PCB suppliers have been deploying
incentives for new customers. The USA industry is quite competitive and customers
have the opportunity to go to other suppliers fairly easily.
We talked with a couple of PCB companies to
see what their competitive advantage compared to their Asia and domestic
completion. Here are a few of the things that they are focusing on.
- Improved communication between customers and sales reps
- Better trained sales reps (in order to provide immediate technical and engineering help)
- Faster lead times – Lead times that their Asia competitors can’t physically provide due to customs, shipping, and manufacturing lead time limitations.
- Affordable pricing - Competitive with other domestic competition.
- Ease of getting quotes (From an automated website form or submission form)
a. Many PCB suppliers found this
to be a hard shoe to fill due to the limited amount of sales associates who
have the combined sales and engineering background.
a. Providing customers with
quicker quotes
The local domestic Quick turn PCB industry is ever changing and
companies are looking to create partnerships with customers in order to create
loyalty and lifetime fans. Suppliers are ensuring that designs with their
manufacturing facilities deliver high-yield orders. Partnering with companies
like Altium Designer and CadSoft EAGLE, it is cooperation that will allow for
the quick turn industry to continue its growth.
