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CONTRACT MANUFACTURING


TOP 10 TIPS TO HELP YOU EFFECTIVELY UTILISE YOUR CONTRACT ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURER


have in house capabilities such as sheet metalwork, fabricat ion, painting, coating and t oolmaking to consolidate your supplier base?


4. Will your CEM accept free issue component s or PCBs to save you handling costs and mean you are


absolutely assured of component qualit y? 5. Do t hey have modern 3D AOI to


inspect millions of joints and placement s t irelessly and reliably?


6. Are they geared up for quick changeover between jobs as lengthy downtime can cost more than a product ion run?


7. Will t hey offer free labour to build first off assemblies?


Getting the best solution from your CEM in cooperation


F


or a CEM, building products is an unforgiving environment. A company with their own electronics assembly lines manufacturing boards that go into larger finished products will get things right the vast majority of the time, it’s the reaction to reject s that can differ. A small failure rate of boards built on an in house line may result in an occasional box of rejects being sent back in the direction of the electronics department. The expectations of a CEM are


Getting the best solution from your CEM in the 21st century relies on cooperation


greatest. They are paid by the hour and will have invested in aut omat ion to make the magic, routine.


Pennies you have saved in materials from a nifty design trick could easily be lost many times over if it introduces additional assembly time. Budgetary quotations and snippets of advice at an early stage rather than nasty surprises when you’ve run out of time and options can reap significant rewards.


age rather t


far greater with tiny failure rates TS: prompting 8D reports and scrutiny of processes to track down the offending lloophole. Make a mistake and t


TOP 10 TIPS:


oophole. Make a mistake and there is nowhere to hide. T he board should, of course, be right.


COOPERATIATING FROM THE O UTS ET Choose your CEM partner carefully and work with them considering their experience, advice and additional services wherever you can. You need the lowest cost and highest quality so cooperation is imperative from the outset. Your CEM only makes money if they get it right first time and should steer you around assembly issues that could lead to problems.


They can advise the elements of the build that inflate the price, the opt ions t hey can offer to lower overall costs and optimise yield of t he final product .


A CEM has no IP in the finished product and cannot charge a premium because it’s the newest, the latest and the


32 MAY 2020 | ELECTRONICS


David Billingham, general manager of SKN Electronics in Birmingham, UK has put together 10 questions you should ask to get the most out of y our Contract Electronics Manufacturer:


1. Is it st ill possible to make minor changes to your design? By doing so y ou can take full advantage of a CEM’s investment in technology and automat ion. A solder theft pad, a change t o SMT or back to through-hole can make a difference.


CEM’s investment in technology


2. Has your product packaging been considered? The wrong packing met hod or reliance on the default ‘bubble wrap and label’ can mean it costs more to pack a board than to assemble it. Rugged, reusable anti-st atic compartment alised storage boxes are both environmentally friendly, safe, effective and can have a short ROI.


atic compartment


3. What other additional capabilities and services can your CEM offer to simplify your supply chain? Do they


8. Are they a true CEM and not an OEM with production time on their hands where you may not be t he priority ? 9. How does your CEM stand in terms of strength in depth, will a single point of failure in their process stop your order in its tracks or do they have multiple lines and multiple manufact uring sit es? 10. Have you asked y our CEM to perform functional tests? Your CEM will thank you for being able to ensure the boards really do work which in t urn improves your incoming board quality.


What ever your chosen level of


assembly, whether SMT only, full build, or build and test, you must ensure the expectations and responsibilit y for cost of rectification are clearly laid out from the st art. After all, not all faults are assembly errors.


Your CEM will advise the parts of the process where batch size has greatest impact, there could be savings t o be had by combining several surface mount batches into one and then spreading t he


Panel sizes are important. Money saved on the bare board price with larger panels can be lost bylarger panels can be lost by causing issues with stabilityissues with stability through other processes especially on thinner


materials. How the boards break out of the master panel needs careful consideration and a well-designed profile will not need rework after breakout. Price negot


guidance is generally free so why seek it ?


SKN Electronics


www.sknelectronics.co.uk sales@sknelectronics.co.uk


/ ELECTRONICS


batches into one and then spreading t final assembly of the build over a number of months.


breakout. Price negot iation and haggling is normal but advice and guidance is generally free so why not


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