Contract and Circuit Board Manufacturing Blog | Zentech

Electronics Manufacturing: From the Imagination to Store Shelves - It's All Interconnected

Written by Matthew Turpin | Thu, Apr 24, 2014 @ 12:00 PM

When you look at a PC board, what do you see? To the untrained eye, the makeup of these boards may seem chaotic and confusing. An electronics professional, on the other hand, would see a symphony of microchips, all in harmony with interconnected circuits. The completed board brings life to the technological gadgets, tools, and devices that all of us depend on each day, and its the perfect interconnection of the various components and circuitry formed by copper wire tracing that makes this possible.

 In the same way, all of the ideas, people, plans, components, machinery, and testing involved with the design and manufacture of PC boards are also interconnected. Even though there's a lot going on throughout the process, every thing and every person are intrinsically linked to one another, and the finished product depends on this connection. From start to finish, it's important that you never lose sight of the big picture and how everything works together for good.  

Electronic Interconnection: Everything Counts  

Ideas Become Designs    

Like most professionals working within the technological sector, you're very inventive and creative. You are constantly looking for ways to make things better and easier for the world through advanced electronic devices. As you think and imagine throughout the day, you begin to develop ideas. Those ideas then become the basis for creating plans and designs.

Designs Become Roadmaps    

Once you've determined what it is that you want to accomplish with your ideas, you're ready to move on to the design state. Here, you and your team of skilled engineers work together to bring your ideas to life. You put your heads together to determine how each system component will work together to complete the function or functions that you have imagined for your product.

Roadmap Plans Set Assembly Into Motion    

It is only when you have been able to nail down the final details and approve your team's designs that you can move forward with the assembly process. The design schematics will provide you with the information that you need in order to purchase the required system components and parts, and to determine how to go about actually assembling the device. Should labor from your employees be relied upon, or will the project require the use of robotics and specialized machinery? This phase of the product will offer these answers.

Assembly Yields Products    

Regardless of whether you're creating a single working prototype or are attempting to fulfill a larger scale order of the new device, the assembly process will yield all of the products that you and/or your customers have demanded.

Products Demand Testing    

Even when the assembly and manufacture of a product is completed, it's still not ready to go out to buyers. First, specialized workers and equipment must be utilized in order to test the functionality, efficiency, and safety of the devices that have been developed by your company. Should any defects or problems be detected during this process, you may need to evaluate the underlying issue to ensure that it hasn't corrupted an entire batch. 

Tested Products are Sold to Buyers    

Once a product has been tested and approved for sale, they can be offered to your customers for purchase and for use. Your buyers will make use of your device, and are very likely to review their opinions on its efficiency and effectiveness, or make suggestions for future products.

Buyers Inspire Ideas      

Customer reviews are beneficial to electronics companies like your own. By taking the time to learn the thoughts and opinions of those using your devices, you can draw inspiration for how you can continue to make products that meet consumer demand. 

Just as the parts of a board work together to improve the lives of people throughout the world, every step in the process of developing PCBs is interconnected and important. You'll never look at the cable interconnects and tracing of a PC board again.