In today’s industrial world, Printed Circuit Boards are playing a fundamental role in any electrical devices. Although PCB is widely available, designing and manufacturing the right PCB with acceptable quality and price in today’s competitive market can be a challenge.
According to this consideration, some of the companies decide to outsource this process whereas some of them do all of the engineering processes in their house. This article describes which companies and industries mostly outsource the design and the manufacturing process, The benefits of outsourcing, and how to choose the best manufacturer based on your needs.
Small businesses VS Big businesses
In many industries, well-established businesses may focus on giving wider services and more products to customers. They have enough capacity to be self-sufficient in having a good team and manufacturing their own PCB products. A small or medium business with only some personnel is probably capable of making sufficient cash to continue to exist with the aid of promoting single services or products in a specific market. These companies may be engaged with some issues, such as designing and manufacturing the right circuit boards.
The need of the design and in which industry it is used, small companies mostly outsource the design and the manufacturing processes; In contrast to well-established businesses. Outsourcing as a small enterprise may be useful due to the fact having and maintaining a product line may be pricey.
Small errors can be costly in the future, so basically it is about having the PCB design right from the beginning. For instance, If a PCB is built in a particular design but because of an unpredictable issue, the design should be changed. Moreover, the case will be out of date, and also it can cost a lot to redesign the whole project.
Therefore, to have an effective design the risk of errors should be minimized. Ultimately, the proposed solution is to hire a professional team to design and manufacture. They have the latest engineering knowledge of PCB, materials , and technology so the small businesses can focus on their profession.
What industries outsource?
Outsourcing is preferred by many different industries to keep their company focused on the main profession and lower the costs. For instance: medical electronic devices, military, software development, mechanical devices, and many others.
How to find a qualified manufacturer?
To have an appropriate design and manufacturing, it would be beneficial and advantageous to choose a suitable manufacturer. Because of the high number of manufacturers in the market, it might be confusing to choose the best and the most professional service provider. Outsourcing may raise some questions, here are a few things to consider in choosing the right one:
Requirements: In order to have a proper final product, the manufacturer should be able to meet the exact needs of the target product. In addition, the manufacturer should be able to have the latest technical technology and knowledge of design.
Quality: A key concern in choosing the right manufacturer is to make sure the manufacturer can cope with manufacturing the PCB with the right size and needed or standard quality. Passing qualification board tests and using the right materials and components can qualify the manufacturer.
Material sourcing: One of the cases which is challenging in choosing the right manufacturer is to make sure where the materials are sourced from. Maybe the manufacturer looks forward to sourcing the materials from the cheapest places and reducing the quality of the final product and offering it at a cheaper price in the market. Ultimately, it can disrupt the performance of the PCB. Also, it must predict the material needs and have a loaded depot to reduce the risk of inoperative the customer’s production line.
Skip the middleman
When looking for a PCB manufacturer, keep in mind whether it is actually a manufacturer or a broker. The market is so large that many PCB brokers have been created to promote relationships between large companies and manufacturers. PCB brokers exist around the world and are most useful for large companies that need to constantly rely on vendors for competitive quotations.
However, if a small business is familiar with PCBs, the most cost-effective way is to work directly with the manufacturer. Working with PCB manufacturers is the best way to establish open communication and build relationships. The manufacturers’ technical support or schedule can be quite helpful.
Conclusion
There are many different and essential points to analyze in order to outsource or manufacture a qualified PCB. Advantages and effects of outsourcing and what can be the eligibility of a proper manufacturer. In particular, Arshon Technology provides a variety of services to large and small companies in the design and manufacture of printed circuit boards in the United States and Canada.
Author: Eli(Elnaz) Sadafi, IoT design engineer @ Arshon technology
