Choosing the best printed circuit board assembly partner

Without a doubt, thoroughly vetting potential assemblers is essential to avoid quality issues, delays, and overspending. Choosing the right partner ensures your products are manufactured reliably, on time, and budget. Let’s find out what to examine when assessing a printed circuit board assembly partner to best meet your product needs and business goals.

1. Determine Your Needs

The first step in choosing the right PCB assembly services is to have a clear understanding of your specific needs and requirements. This will allow you to find a provider that is best equipped to meet them.

Consider the following:

- Volume Requirements - What is the volume of boards you need to be assembled - is it a one-time prototype run of a few boards or an ongoing high-volume production? The assembly provider should have the capacity to handle your required volume.

- Lead Times - How quickly do you need to receive the assembled boards? Some providers may be able to deliver faster turnaround times than others. Define your ideal lead times so you can find a provider who can meet them.

- Complexity of Assembly - How complex is your board in terms of component types, component sizes, density of the board, and assembly processes required? More complex assemblies typically require more advanced manufacturing capabilities.

- Special Requirements - Do you require any specialized services like conformal coating, programming, or testing? Or do you have components that require special handling like batteries or sensitive ICs? Make sure the assembly provider can support your special needs.

Clearly identifying your specific volume, lead time, complexity, and any special requirements will allow you to zero in on assembly providers that are best qualified to fulfill your PCB assembly needs.

2. Verify Supply Chain Reliability

A PCB assembly partner's supply chain capabilities can make or break your production schedule. Carefully evaluate how potential partners source components and manage part shortages before making a selection.

Component Sourcing Abilities

- Do they have established relationships with major component distributors like Digikey, Mouser, and Arrow? This ensures quick access to common parts.

- Can they source from broker networks to find hard-to-locate components? Brokers can help track down specialized or obsolete parts.

- Do they have procurement offices located near component distributors? Local sourcing gives faster access and lower costs.

- What is their component qualification process? Rigorous qualification ensures authentic, high-quality parts.

Management of Part Shortages

- How do they monitor part availability and react to shortages? Look for real-time inventory monitoring and auto-alerts.

- What is their process for managing obsolescence? End-of-life mitigation reduces disruption from discontinued parts.

- Do they maintain a safe stock of critical components? Buffer inventory prevents production halts.

- Can they recommend alternative parts if needed? Component engineers should provide substitution guidance.

- What is their escalation process during shortages? Make sure they quickly inform customers and provide mitigation options.

Carefully investigating a potential partner's supply chain will minimize procurement issues and keep your PCB assembly line running smoothly. Verify their sourcing abilities and shortage response before finalizing your selection.

3. Examine Engineering Support

A key part of choosing the right printed circuit board assembly partner is having access to skilled engineers who can provide design for manufacturability (DFM) guidance. Look for an assembly provider that has engineers on staff with expertise in electronics design and manufacturing processes. They should be able to review your board designs and make recommendations to optimize them for manufacturability, testability, and reliability.

For example, they may suggest tweaks to pad sizes, trace widths, placement of test points, etc. This input early in the design process can prevent issues from cropping up during volume production. It also helps ensure your boards can be assembled efficiently and function as intended.

In addition to DFM guidance, you want collaborators rather than just vendors. Having engineers work closely with your team allows you to tap into their assembly experience. An engaged partner will ask questions to understand your requirements, technical challenges, and product roadmap. This facilitates developing the best solutions tailored to your needs.

Close engineering collaboration enables identifying and resolving potential problems early on. Look for an assembly provider willing to have open technical dialogues and provide feedback to improve your designs. Their expertise can complement your team's skills to help achieve manufacturing and product success.

4. Evaluate Cost Structure

When it comes to selecting a printed circuit board assembly partner, cost should certainly be one factor in your decision-making process. However, it's important not to make your decision solely based on the lowest bidder. Many factors contribute to the total cost of working with an assembly partner.

Pricing Model

One key consideration is the pricing model. Some assembly providers charge on a per-unit basis, while others utilize a turnkey model with built-in margins. Turnkey pricing builds in costs for engineering, testing, procurement, inventory, and more upfront. This can make budgeting easier but lacks transparency on where your dollars are going. A per-unit model is more variable but gives you greater visibility into individual cost components.

Upfront vs. Ongoing Costs

You will also want to consider both upfront and ongoing costs. Upfront costs may include setup fees for new designs, tooling like custom solder stencils, and initial component procurement. Ongoing costs will depend on order volumes and can include economy-of-scale discounts. Make sure you factor in costs like expedited delivery and last-time buys of end-of-life components as well.

The lowest bidder isn't always the best choice. Optimize for overall value based on factors like quality, reliability, scalability, and engineering support. The goal is to find the right partner for your needs at a fair price.