Design for Manufacture

The input of your manufacturing partner is crucial if you are to optimise the design for ease of assembly and therefore lowest possible cost.

We start with the bare printed circuit board(s) and consider both cost factors and any aspects that will cause assembly difficulties. These can't always be overcome but early awareness is vital.

On PCBA's a simple example of our work is to evaluate the relative costs of single sided or double sided assembly. A common discussion point is the assembly of any through hole items that will need hand soldering.

Finished product assembly costs and reliability are heavily influenced by design and this is a crucial area to get right. Each product is different but most share the same issues such as interconnection methodology, fixtures and fittings, packaging etc.

With modern design and layout systems, our input is often very limited as increasingly we see designs that are near 100% compliant.

Other times our input can save considerable amounts of money is if it's incorporated early enough to avoid expensive and time consuming respins.