Like everything else in the modern world, design decisions can have a pretty big impact on your cost. So, let’s take a look at seven design decisions that can make your manufacturing more affordable.
Accept longer lead times — Lead times are one of the biggest factors in electronics manufacturing. Businesses can turn a kitted assembly job overnight, but it costs a lot of money to do that. When you can, a 20 day turn-around that is much more affordable. Accepting longer lead times on PCB fab will drop your cost as well.
Avoid leadless packages like QFNs and BGAs — Screaming Circuits builds tons of QFN and BGA boards — even down to 0.3mm pitch micro BGAs. That’s great if you need those packages. However, since all of the leads are underneath, we have to x-ray every part. That adds a bit of cost to the process. If you can, stick with TSSOPs and other parts with visible leads.
Use reels and continuous strips — To save costs, use full or partial reels or continuous strips of at least 12″ long.
Stick with surface mount — These days, thru-hole components tend to be hand soldered. That costs more than machine assembly, so use surface mount wherever possible. Surface mount components tend to be less expensive than thru-hole too. If you do need a few thru-hole parts, this is an opportunity to put in a little sweat equity by soldering the thru-hole yourself and save a bit of money.
Keep your surface mount parts on one side — Putting surface mount parts on both sides of the PC board is a great way to better utilise space. However, if cost is more of a concern, and you only have a few parts to put on the back side, it may be more cost effective to move them to the top side. If you’ve got a lot of parts, the additional cost for assembling both sides may be less than the cost for the extra PC board size, but with a small number of parts that’s probably not the case. Quote it both ways and see which is less expensive.
Panelise small boards — Sticking with a larger size makes the job easier, and, again, creates extra savings. If your PC board is smaller than 16 square inches, panelise it.
Save on start-up costs — Just the act of starting out can pretty much break the bank. Software like PCB123 offers full-featured PCB CAD systems you can get free of cost.
By following these guidelines, you can get a decent price and quality service.