How To Save Your PCB Assembly Costs

Optimize PCB layout

There are a variety of factors that would affect PCB cost, including surface finish, printed circuit board sizes, the number of layers, and via technologies. And the reasonable design of these parts can help reduce the cost while keeping the quality. For example, the more vias on the board, the more expensive it would cost, and the smaller the vias, the higher cost it would take. Thus, it is important for designers to carefully organize the numbers and sizes of the tracks. Additionally, the different shapes of the board would also affect the price, normally shapes like square and rectangle have lower cost than other special shapes, so when designing the PCB, if you don't have to make the board with special shapes, try to do it. with regular shapes.

Comprehensive Bill of Materials

It is of great importance to create a Bill of Materials (Good) that includes the raw materials, components, Assemblies, and subassemblies necessary for the manufacture and assembly of the printed circuit board. An efficient bill of material should include the necessary data, such as part number, Manufacturer Name, reference designator, description, quantity, package, footprint, and note, which can save a lot of assembly cost when placing large volume orders. Normally, PCB Assemblers would offer a BOM template, and you just need to fill it out as per your PCBA requirements. We recommend adding component replacement in BOM, as the electronic industry is developing rapidly, and the new upgraded components would replace the old ones, it would take a long time to find the replacement on the market. And if you can provide a complete bill of materials with component replacement information, the PCB assembler can deliver the PCBA without delay and reduce costs as well.

Find a reliable PCB assembler

Working with a reliable PCB assembler can also save you assembly costs, a good assembler helps you cut costs by ensuring assembly quality. But it's not an easy job to select the right assembler, here are some key considerations on how to choose reliable PCB assemblers: First and foremost, you should check their certification to ensure that the assembly machine's manufacturing capabilities and management practices of PCBs can meet high standards. They should at least get certifications like ISO9001, RoHS, IPC, and UL. Second, you must know what type of equipment they used. State-of-the-art equipment can improve assembly efficiency and ensure high assembly quality, for example, Advanced SMT equipment ensures components can be assembled with high precision. Last, you need to check if the assembler has a good relationship with their suppliers. A stable supplier network ensures that you can get favorable prices, and what's more, it can ensure a stable supply of raw materials or electronic components and avoid delivery delays.

Adjust order volume and delivery time

Based on economies of scale, the more PCBAs you place, the lower the price you can get. Therefore, before placing an order, it would be better to make a scientific estimate of the demand for the project and understand its order volume. If there is a lot of demand, it is better to order in one go rather than in batches. Regarding the delivery time, make sure you have negotiated a specific date with your assembler. And that the supplier start the assembly as soon as possible, otherwise, the assembly time would be very rushed, and additional costs will be incurred.

Source labor from low-wage regions

As we know, PCB assemblers in Western Europe and the United States are skillful, but the cost would be very high. Therefore, working with assemblers in low-wage regions is another way to reduce your costs. But we must note that the lower cost of assembly is not our final purpose, the quality of PCBA is paramount.