Tips On How To Reduce The Price Tag Of PCB Prototype Assembly

Tips On How To Reduce The Price Tag Of PCB Prototype Assembly

I will give some advice about avoiding costly mistakes while running sample product and PCB assembly and how to minimize time to market for new electronic products.

Making of prototypes is the first step of a new product launch and is typically done following simulation of product performance by employing the simulation capabilities of PCB and industrial design software. The simulation results often allow you to find errors and help you improve your design. This will save time and money by minimizing the amount of prototype iterations required before mass production.

One strategy to speed up sample optimization is working with a modular design. A modular design will concentrate core features of your design in particular parts which are interchangeable. Throughout your sample optimization you can then improve separate modules that do not yet meet your performance constraints rather than having to rebuild your entire design. When a specific module does not meet the design constraint, it can be swapped relatively quickly. The time benefit at this stage is evident. During the design phase though structuring your design into modules will take additional effort.

Depending on the design complexity, you might consider manually mounting PCB components to reduce cost. Then again, for average to large complexity this approach tends to be exceptionally time consuming, particularly if you want to build a number of prototypes. Thus it makes sense taking into consideration a contract manufacturer for the assembly.

You ought to look for a subcontractor that has a low setup cost since this cost is going to dominate the total expense in case of small-quantity runs. Because prototype PCB vendors combine boards from several customers, you will typically only have a limited selection of board materials and thicknesses when employing a PCB prototyping service.

Try to choose a manufacturer that not only has low setup costs but also can do full-quantity assembly runs. Specialized prototype assemblers might not be equipped to take on larger quantity manufacturing. This has the advantage of simplifying the migration between sample and finished product. Your supplier may then very easily reuse your translated design files. This may not be the case if you are switching suppliers. Also, chances are that your new supplier will read some files differently which will risk performance of the finished product.

A number of PCB vendors also can aid you throughout the design by offering in-house PCB design. If you are not very experienced in the design, you may want to think about choosing such a vendor. Such a vendor can also much more simply and much more rapidly solve design-related issues.

Buying components for prototype runs is a concern. Purchasing components in small quantities is expensive and involves a lot of work. Also, a number of suppliers have minimum order quantity requirements. Small quantities of SMT parts are hard to mount by automatic machines because they normally do not come in reels. If you select a supplier that has stock of commonly used SMT parts which you can order, you can save a lot of time. In addition, you won't waste any parts which are left over.

If you picked a manufacturer that also does the final product assembly, you will not only save time to market but also ensure that circuit boards that are found to be faulty during the final examination will be repaired much more rapidly. Be sure you can easily and effectively converse with your supplier. Also, make certain that your supplier can identify with your issues. This ability will be key in avoiding expensive delays and errors of the PCB assembly and final product manufacturing.

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