Skillset & Portfolio

Component Sourcing

“Design by Digi-Key” only gets you so far - great for prototypes & low volume, and some suppliers won’t even talk to you unless you’re buying in the tens-of-thousands-per-month! Where’s the middle-ground? To get to market within budget you need access to a wide range of suppliers at various tiers of the supply chain. Understanding that your manufacturing quantity usually dictates where in the supply chain is optimal can help you avoid wasting time on expensive low-volume or disinterested high-volume suppliers.

Bill Of Materials

Choosing components for the design that are available in the quantity you need but within the budget allowable can be a tedious but essential process, requiring broad component industry knowledge, patience and grit, and an understanding of what goes on inside the manufacturing process - all at the same time. Purchasing need the BoM in their format, and Manufacturing need it in another format. Mature and proven CAD libraries and output-job automation is essential.

Design For Manufacturing (DfM)

Working hand-in-hand with your assembly house - preferably early in the design process - is critical to achieving on-budget outcomes. Just one excess line-item on the BoM can force a whole extra loop through pick-n-place machines. Panelisation, reflow profiles, component package options, automated spot-soldering vs. manual soldering of through-hole components - getting it wrong costs you money.

Design For Testing (DfT)

When it comes to volume manufacturing, using the most apprpriate and efficient end-of-assembly-line test procedure for your product is part of the job. Your assembly house aren’t mind-readers, and left to their own devices can make shockingly bad chocies! Designing and manufacturing a solid test jig for your PCB(s) is all part of the process, but too often left as an afterthought. Do you do flying-probe testing, or bed-of-nails testing? Or will functional testing suffice? Your designer must work with the assembler, and perhaps a 3rd-party test jig manufacturing service, to produce robust test jigs that will withstand many thousands/hundreds-of-thousands of test iterations, under a rigorously designed & documented test procedure.