Whether you are a large industrial original equipment manufacturer making military supplies or a small electronics company designing home electronics, you are going to need printed circuit boards that will function properly. If you are purchasing your circuit boards from a third party, have a checklist in place of everything you will need from the PCB. Knowing what you are looking for allows you to ask the appropriate questions of the supplier.
Suggestions of selecting high quality PCB Suppliers as follow:
1 Determine how many suppliers are needed based on the size of your operation and the diversity of electronic equipment being manufactured.
2 Choose a supplier as close to you as possible. You might be able to find cheap PCBs in China, but if you can save on shipping costs it might just make fiscal sense to choose a supplier closer to home.
4 Contact the supplier to determine if it is capable of building your PCB.
5 Submit designs and other pertinent information to obtain a quote from the supplier.
6 Test the products of the potential supplier to see if they are of high quality.
7 Narrow your list of potentials based on this criteria until you find a supplier with which you can do business.
Evaluating a circuit board Supplier
A completed profile is only a first step in selecting a new supplier. The profile data should be evaluated to make sure the supplier is capable of manufacturing your products, but it is even more important to arrange a visit to the facility to see the operation first-hand. Representatives must perform an on-site audit of any new facility.
It is important to realize that not all circuit board manufacturers specialize in the same type of board production. The first observation that should be made during a tour of the facility is the general nature of the products being manufactured there. You might see mostly two-layer boards at one facility, mostly high-layer count backplanes at another facility, and another that specializes in high-volume cell phones or motherboards. The marketing brochure may list 30-layer capability with 4mil lines, but if they don't actually manufacture those type of boards on a regular basis, the buyer should be wary of putting an order like that with them.
The purchaser wants to balance cost with quality. You don't want to send a 50-piece order for a simple two-layer board to a huge overseas manufacturer who is busy making millions of boards for cell-phones. Why? Because it will cost too much. The huge manufacturer typically wants huge orders. They typically set up a single design and have it run for weeks at a time. Are they going to be interested in loading up their equipment for a 50 piece order? Only if the price is right. They will only accept that job if we make it worth their time to slow down the big operation. We will get a far better deal by finding a supplier who specializes in small low-volume runs.
Let's take that example of a two-layer board one step further, and think about the difference in process steps from a multi-layer construction. A two-layer board is constructed with a single piece of fiberglass with copper on both sides. The copper is etched away to form the desired circuit pattern, holes are drilled and plated, and that's about all there is to it (except for the coatings soldermask, finish and silkscreen).
In a multi-layer circuit board manufacture, each pair of inner layers is separately etched, then laminated together with the outer layers which need to be etched, and without getting too detailed there are many additional factors in addition to layer registration and final thickness variations. Many operations aren't used in two-layer construction, and many inspection steps aren't necessary. So a smart purchaser will place that order with a vendor who specializes in two-layer boards for a lower price. The point of this example is that it is important to learn the capabilities and the differentiation between various approved vendors, to know how to use them most effectively. In other words, to get the most reliable product for the lowest price.
It is important to understand that some vendors can be approved for low technology products and still be reliable, but not be approved for higher technology design capability.
Many other observations will contribute to the over-all perception of a supplier; the general cleanliness of the facility, the orderly layout of work cells to minimize handling of material, written procedures and good record-keeping, printed metrics posted at various work-sites, etc. Look for good process control and a culture of continuous improvement.
This type of information can't be obtained from a marketing brochure.
For example, if one vendor is using Automated Optical Inspection of inner layers, sorting out any defects and recording the failure rate for process improvement, and another vendor has an army of teenagers doing visual inspection and fixing errors on the fly without recording the frequency of repair, you have a very good idea which vendor should be preferred.
As another example, A casual conversation with the CAM operator may reveal a lot about his role in the organization. One manufacturer may have him doing a complete Design Rule Check on the supplied data, and modifying it with venting, thieving, tear-dropping and compensation to get the highest yield possible, while another merely sends the data out to a third party to generate "master film", using the data "as is". Needless to say, you would prefer the former.
To summarize, it is in your best interest to become familiar with your supplier's processes, visit them personally and determine which type of circuit board designs they are best capable of manufacturing.
About PCBway
Since 2003 PCBWAY has been the leading PCB quick turn manufacturer specializing in both Prototype and Production quantities, Initially produced single-sided and double-sided printed circuit boards for the consumer electronics market. PCBWAY is ranked among the top 4 board fabricators in asia and is well-known for its expedited turn time capabilities and its reliable best on-time shipping record.
Today, we have over 450 operators with high modern facilities to manufacture multi-layer PCB up to 12 layers. Backing up with a group of professional engineers, and well established quality system. PCBWay has grown to become a major PCB manufacturer in Asia to serve in diverse customers base such as electronics appliance, communication, educational electronics, power supplies, Automationsetc.
Our mission is to become one of leading PCB manufacturer that provide in high quality product with total customer satisfaction.
