Suggestions On How To Minimize The Price Tag Of PCB Prototype Making

I will give some pointers about avoiding expensive errors whilst running prototype product and PCB manufacturing and how to minimize time to market for new electronic products.

Producing of samples 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. Doing a simulation allows minimizing the number of design errors before the first prototype is assembled.

Choosing a modular design in which each module includes certain key functions will simplify the optimization of your prototype by permitting you to swap individual modules that do not meet your performance as opposed to rebuilding the complete design. When a certain module does not meet the design requirement, it can be replaced fairly quickly. The time benefit at this stage is apparent. During the design phase however structuring your design into modules will require extra effort.

Based on the design difficulty, you could think about manually mounting PCB components to lower cost. However, for medium to large complexity this approach tends to be exceptionally time consuming, particularly if you wish to build several prototypes. To get better-quality boards and to avoid problems with particular components which are difficult to mount consider subcontracting the sample manufacturing. That may also save you some time.

To mount circuit boards, your vendor has to prepare the production line for your board. This step is quite time consuming compared to the manufacturing time in case of sample runs. Consequently you should look for a supplier with a relatively small setup expense since this expense is going to be the bulk of the prototyping expense. To lower setup expense of PCB sample assembly, suppliers will combine boards from a number of customers. This will split the setup cost amongst numerous customers. Consequently, you will only have a limited choice of PCB materials and thicknesses.

When looking for a vendor, you should though not focus on low setup costs alone. Choosing a manufacturer which can also run production quantity runs later on will eliminate many pitfalls during the production stage because the sample data can without difficulty be reused. If there are no major modifications in your design, manufacturing can begin quickly. The production files are already available in the manufacturer-specific machine format.

A PCB contract vendor that in addition provides PCB design services will be capable to help you in the design process and also be able to a great deal more effortlessly solve design-related problems.

A challenge with small-quantity manufacturing runs is sourcing of PCB parts. Most components vendors will charge ship fees and have minimum order quantity requirements for specific components. Small quantities of SMT parts are difficult to mount by automatic machines since they ordinarily do not come in reels. If you select a supplier that carries inventory of commonly used SMT parts that you can purchase, you can save a lot of time. Also, you won’t squander any parts which are left over.

If you picked a manufacturer that also does the finished product manufacturing, you will not only reduce time to market but also ensure that circuit boards that are found to be defective during the final inspection can be repaired much more quickly. Good communications with your manufacturer is essential since it will help avoid costly delays and errors during all steps of the PCB assembly and final product manufacturing.