7 Tips to select the Right PCB Manufacturer
Right PCB Manufacturer ?
Choosing the right PCB Manufacturer can be a bit confusing.As the market is loaded with many PCB manufacturers and pricing varying significantly, to help you selecting the right supplier for you project either prototypes or high volume production, we listed below 7 tips to select the right PCB Manufacturer :
1) Company history and experience
When it comes to manufacturing circuit boards, experience is everything. This tip not only sheds light on a manufacturer’s competence, but also their ability to constantly R&D and innovate over time.
2) Quality and Certifications
Review their quality standards and policies and make sure to look at the certificate they have like ISO 9001 , ISO 14001 , TS 16949 , ULC…etc
3) Sales Engineering Support
An important component of the fabricator’s contribution to a good design is engineering support in the form of advice on materials selection, design rule validation, manufacturability advice and other technical support that is not usually part of the design engineering team’s kit of tools. Good support in this area can make the difference between a design that is manufacturable and reliable and one that is not. The more complex the design, the more important this is. The best engineering support comes from fabricators who are routinely building PCBs of the complexity in question. They will have seen many things that can improve the yield of a PCB that a less experienced fabricator has not.
4) Delivery Time
The lead time to manufacture has a direct impact on the quality of the final product.
5) Capacity
Make sure to ask for their capacity per month and how many new part numbers they can do per day for quick turns , as for production you need to know the capacity in square meters or square feet to ensure their capability in production for large quantities.
6) Capability
Ask for capability sheet from your supplier and make sure they have the equipment to accommodate the manufacture and details of higher technology designs, Make sure they have the PCB capabilities to manufacture your PCB’s perfectly.
7) Pricing
Generally known fact is that quality and PCB pricing won’t go hand in hand and it makes sense that higher quality also means higher PCB pricing. But since there are more and more PCB manufacturing companies where all of them tend to have concurrent prices, the final result is more reasonable PCB pricing. There are a couple of things that affect the PCB pricing like material , lead time , PCB technology , special tolerances..etc
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