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How you can reduce your PCB manufacturing costs

Home >> Blog >> How you can reduce your PCB manufacturing costs
  • Dl Design
  • Blog
  • 19 April 2017
  • Comments Off on How you can reduce your PCB manufacturing costs

 

1. Smarter design
Planning the PCB layout and assembly process is one of the most smart and cost effective ways of saving money.
The strategical engineering of these boards can result in using fewer and more cost effective parts which will significantly lower the cost of each PCB.

In the long run, this will enable your company to reduce costs and deliver high quality PCB layouts.

 

2. Use manufacturers reference designs
Engineers designs can look good on paper but when it comes to design, costs could impact on overall cost and reduce profit. Costs can increase during the manufacturing stage.
One of the cost effective ways is to refer to manufacturers notes. The information provided can save effort, time and money for the design to be produced.
A decent chip manufacturer will provide a schematic, BOM, gerber and assembly drawings and reference designs.
The reference designs are created by the manufacturer to show how the design is made to their specification.

 

3. Panelise
Placing multiple PCBs on the same panel allows all of them to processed at the same time, instead of separately. Not only are boards manufactured like this, they are assembled and shipped on a single panel. The more PCBs on one panel, the more cost effective it becomes.

 

4. Get the Manufactures involved
Providing the manufacturers with any information during the design process can pay dividends when it comes to releasing the production files.

Board stack up, clearance issues, materials and special requirements – these could cause problems for the manufacturer and these could be costly if told in the last-minute.
By communicating and agreeing with in advance this would give the manufacturer time to resolve any issues and even offer an alternative solution.

You could have time to find an alternate manufacturer if your demands are not met.

 

5. Using the same assembly house for prototyping and mass production
Once the boards have been designed and manufactured, the assembly process can begin.
If there are no design changes between prototyping and productions it would be practical to use the same assembler for both and to start mass production as soon as possible.

Material costs are fairly low, significantly lower when bought in bulk. The main costs are time spent assembling the PCB.
It takes time to review the design and resolve any potential problems.

It takes even more time to add the parts into the pick and place machine. And it takes time for the assemblers to learn what’s required for the project. If this is achieved during the prototype, the mass production run will go much faster.