In the PCB assembly process, once you are done with the design of your electronics project, you need to focus on building a PCB prototyping before you bring them to the market for high-volume production. If you are looking at working on PCB fabrication and assembly, you have two main avenues – Full turnkey assembly and consignment PCB assembly. With its own risks and rewards.
Before you choose an option, you should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of each option to ensure that you pick the best fit for your business needs.
Risks and Rewards of Full Turnkey PCB Assembly
Full turnkey PCB assembly services help you to stay agile and competitive in the industry and your CM will handle everything you need to ship the PCB to market faster at the lowest costs possible. From ordering the component, assembly, manufacturing, testing, and shipment, everything will be taken care of by the CM.
By outsourcing the major stressors, you can now focus on your PCB design, enhancing your business, and delivering the products at the shortest lead times. If you are a start-up, you can take advantage of full turnkey PCB assembly services as it may help you in incurring less operating overhead, avoid risks, and meet market demands in real-time.
Rewards of Full Turnkey PCB Assembly
PCB manufacturing involves a series of steps like printing the circuit boards, component procurement, assembly, and testing for ensuring functionality as per the specifications. You should also take care of the packaging & delivery of the final product. With full turnkey PCB assembly, you can outsource everything & focus on designing best products & run your business operations seamlessly. You would be avoiding major risks by moving quickly to meet market demands and keep your overheads low.
A turnkey manufacturer will have professionals who can handle all the things outside your purview. They would be your sole point of contact for any sort of changes needed to be made and errors on the PCB. You also don’t have to run &juggle between several vendors to track down & resolve issues. By having only, a single company for your PCB assembly, you can reduce your lead times considerably well and remove the need for any middlemen. This offers you more consistent and reliable outcomes.
Risks of Full Turnkey PCB Assembly
While you are saving your lead time and avoiding miscommunication by relying on only one PCB manufacturer, you are handing over the entire control to them. You need to be a bit wary of assigning the entire production. If it is a reputable and experienced manufacturer, you may not face too many issues as they handle everything with professionalism. Just be confident and cautious while choosing your turnkey partner.
Rewards and Risks of Consignment PCB Assembly
Get the best of both worlds – your parts and manufacturer’s expertise. This way you can have a custom PCB assembly that meets your specific requirement. With consignment assembly services, your CM will work with your in-house supply chain for getting your PCB assembled and the market quickly. The CM team handles the PCB assembly once they receive the components required for the circuit boards.
If you already have the components kit, your PCB assembly process starts immediately. The contract manufacturer must make sure that they get everything on time before they start the assembly process.
Rewards of Consignment PCB Assembly
You are responsible for ordering all the components by yourself. You need to keep track of the inventory needed for your PCB board assembly. You have to pack and ship the components to the manufacturer who handles your assembly needs. Under full turnkey process, companies will be equipped to handle but it also gives a significant control on your manufacturing process.
Not every company can meet you eye-to-eye over the design process. Unless you find a good turnkey provider with a solid background, putting a quality work may seem to be a pipedream. If you are trusting a third-party manufacturer, you are transferring the control to them. If you want to be absolutely sure of everything, you can provide the resources to handle everything as per your specifications. Consignment assembly is the great option for you.
Risks of Consignment PCB Assembly
You would have the entire responsibility and put a lot of extra effort into product assembly. You need to manage the inventory, procure components, manage multiple supply chains, do the packing, and shipping the components to the company that takes care of manufacturing. You should have money, knowledge, and staff who can help you with it. Things may go wrong in the entire process.
Which is the best for my project?
Choosing between these two is purely your prerogative. You may have to explore a bit before you narrow down your choice to one of these. But you can think of the following before you make a decision –
Do I have the component procurement capacity?
How much you can trust the CM with the material procurement?
Do you have everything in order before you contact your manufacturer for the Printed circuit board assembly process?
Can you trust your manufacturer with the expertise to troubleshoot your problems before they go for final manufacturing?
What is your final budget?
If you have a strong in-house team who can take care of the component procurement, you can trust your abilities and go for the consignment PCB assembly services. If you have a limited budget, you can pass on this straight to the manufacturer instead of going the extra mile of component procurement.
Summary
Understand the core competencies of your company and your CM for making a better choice.
Mer-Mar Electronics offers end-to-end turnkey PCB assembly services for turning your ideas into products including turnkey vs consignment PCB assembly services. We guarantee both services by taking quality as the core principle of our services. You can trust us with both services. With over 4 decades of experience, we have built trust in delivering high-quality PCB services. For faster processing, Mer-Mar Electronics has been using automated equipment for performing the assembly process.
