Whether your company is currently building in house or using a contract manufacturer, there are always ways to reduce manufacturing costs on PCB assemblies. Often times, systems have been grandfathered in and cost saving opportunities may be overlooked.
1. Strategic Sourcing
It’s no secret that approximately 80% of your PCBA cost has to do with materials. Component sourcing requires a lot of time and diligence. Parts may become obsolete or be out of stock and make it difficult to meet deadlines. For that reason, many companies rely on their manufacturers to find them the best deals.
2. Inaccurate Design Files
Inaccurate BOMs may lead to increased lead-times on quotes and assembly or worse yet, may result in reworked materials. This rework can be very costly so having accurate design files is essential in maintaining budgets and due dates.
3. Bare Board Costs
Bare PCBs tend to fluctuate in price in many different ways. Some ways to decrease price may include buying in larger quantities, making sure they are able to be panelized, using standard drill sizes and copper thickness, and just doing an overall engineering review to make sure nothing is over-complicated.
4. Economy of Scale
Adjusting your requirements to order bigger lots will reduce pricing. Often times, companies will be willing to build ahead of time and hold stock for you until the boards are required.
5. Testing
When functional testing is performed at your site and an issue is found, it often takes a long time and a lot of money for that board to be made usable again. If you put functional testing in the hands of the contract manufacturer, you are getting a board that is ready to plug and play. Any issues will be fixed on the CM’s site before shipping which will get rid of back and forth shipping costs as well as the doubled man hours to troubleshoot a board.
Vinatronic has over 25 years of experience helping OEMs save money on their PCBA costs. Trust us with your next project and you will not be disappointed!
