Publication date: 02 September 2010
The manufacturers of SMT equipment are putting the economic crisis behind them. According to Munich-based SMT equipment maker and production solutions provider SIPLACE, deliveries by all placement machine manufacturers increased by almost sixty percent (60%) for the second quarter of 2010 compared to the previous quarter, making it the strongest quarter since the record-setting year 2000. The rapid upward trend is even more impressive when one compares the second quarter of 2010 with the same quarter in 2009, because the increase in machine deliveries amounts to almost 400 percent.
The positive trend in electronics manufacturing continues unabated. Thanks to the electronics manufacturers’ full order books, the deliveries of placement machine makers rose by almost 60 percent during the second quarter of 2010 on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
According to SIPLACE’s analyses, the positive trend is evident in all of the world's regions. But while business is strong and stable in Europe and the USA, China is the distant leader, accounting for over 60 percent of the machine shipments in the second quarter of 2010. This makes China once again the "growth locomotive" for the industry as Chinese manufacturers further enhance their supremacy.
In its technology-oriented European home market, where electronics manufacturers focus mainly on flexibility, SIPLACE continues to prevail with its SX platform and its innovative capacity-on-demand concepts. The resulting investment, financing and business models are generating lots of interest among large EMS providers as well as among flexible niche manufacturers in the small and medium-sized categories. A prime example is EMH metering GmbH, a manufacturer of digital power meters based in Wittenberg, Germany, which recently became a new SIPLACE customer and the 100th SIPLACE SX customer.
According to SIPLACE, the demand is especially high for powerful high-grade machines. More than 80 percent of the shipments during the last quarter were generated in this segment. The growing share of high-grade machines is a positive development for premium manufacturer SIPLACE, who focuses on this segment as the industry’s technology leader. “The sales development is extremely positive for the manufacturers in all regions. It could even be better, but the drastic growth rate places great stress on their supply chains all over the world. Manufacturers are struggling with extended delivery times and reports of serious bottlenecks for a rising number of components,” summarizes Stephanie Pepersack, who is in charge of market intelligence in the SIPLACE team, in her compilation of various internal and external market analyses.
