Circuit boards manufactured with Surface Mounting Technologies have revolutionized electronics manufacturing, thanks to their ease of construction and the much higher component density they make possible.  SMT construction allows for devices which are smaller, more feature-packed, and (very often) cheaper to produce.

Surface Mounting Technologies have revolutionized modern manufacturing, and every year, businesses are discovering all the benefits it can bring to their products.

Unlike older "through hole" circuit board design, SMT allows for components to be directly mounted on the surface of the board.  There's no need to have wires directly connecting the top and bottom sides.  This brings a wide variety of new options to circuit design and printing, with very few disadvantages.

One unfortunate byproduct of the offshoring boom of the 90s-00s was the maze of sub-contractors it often created.  If you've gotten stuck in this trap, there are alternatives!

The Many Problems With Multi-Sourced Electronics Manufacturing

It's something we see a lot of clients dealing with, when they come to us.  They've got one contract electronics manufacturer handling prototyping, and another group handling manufacturing, and another one developing software, and (usually) yet another party handling their post-sale support work.  Sometimes even minor aspects like documentation end up outsourced to third parties or freelancers.   On top of that, many of those contractors may have sub-contractors of their own which the original client may or may not know about.  

EMS Electronics design becomes more and more difficult to do well, as we continue to push both density and speeds higher when it comes to circuit design.  High-RF designs require highly precise and controlled manufacturing to produce boards capable of standing up to lengthy use, and with sufficiently low failure rates.

Contract electronics manufacturing has finally grown up, and it's time more people knew about it!

For the past twenty years or more "assembly electronic services" have largely meant cheap overseas production, taking pre-made schematics and churning out whatever is in them.  Companies employing such manufacturing partners usually had to do all the other leg work themselves, commissioning designs and prototypes and system software from other companies.

This made it very hard for all but the largest of firms deploying such methods to create products of the same quality that consumers demand, and frequently led to significant transportation issues, communication errors, and other unforeseen issues.

We spotted a new story this week that once again highlights how risky it is, outsourcing contract electronics manufacturing to China.  It's just another example of why modern businesses need to be looking to manufacturing centers with strong IP protections.

Stories of failed Kickstarter projects are a dime-a-dozen, but the saga of The Dot is slightly different. The pitch was simple:  Affordable < $100 Bluetooth earbuds stored in a self-charging tube roughly the size of lipstick.  The Kickstarter reached its funding goal within a matter of hours, and was on track to have plenty of excess funding.  Then the entire project was shut down, and all pledges refunded, because Kickstarter decided that The Dot was a re-sold Chinese product.

When new clients come to us asking for assistance in bringing a product to market, it's often because they've become overwhelmed by the sheer number of options when it comes to PCB assembly and manufacturing.

Rapid technological changes have created an environment where even seemingly-minor issues like those of electronic interconnect cables are far more important than they seem.

Electronic interconnect cables are exactly what they sound like.  The wiring on the underside of a PCB is designed to carry current, not data.  So on a modern PCB with multiple processing units and other "smart" components, they need additional wiring to carry the data between those components.  Additionally, they're needed to carry data to/from any external sensors, displays, or other components the user may interact with.

Following the manufacturing boom of the 1990s through today, there's now literally a world of options in terms of hiring contract electronics firms.  How do you choose between your options?

Picking the right partner is more essential than ever, if you want your electronics design to succeed.  More products are being introduced into the marketplace more quickly, while both businesses and consumers continue to demand higher quality.  Simply offshoring manufacturing to the lowest bidder can easily mean a product that's late to market, and with quality that's not up to par.

Manufacturers today have found ways to cut costs while simultaneously offering more services than ever before.  You can get a lot more for your money, if you look carefully.

In most industries, good inventory management is important.  In contract electronics, it's absolutely mission-critical for products to succeed. 

With contract electronics assembly, your inventory of parts and supplies plays a much bigger part in the overall success of a product, and of your business.  A single bad $1 component can ruin a $100+ piece of electronics.  This is an especially big issue with overseas assembly.  There are plenty of stories of major businesses either not receiving the products ordered or discovering that counterfeit components had been used.  Even the US Air Force fell victim.

Companies today are bringing out more products, more quickly, trying to meet the demands of an ever-growing industry that wants constant innovation.  Are your design and prototyping services able to keep up with that demand?

It's often one of the biggest complaints companies have about their PCB assembly partners.  Prototypes can be slow to develop, as well as expensive, since they require custom re-configuration of assembly lines.  When dealing with overseas companies, this can often involve months of back-and-forth.