High precision electronic products, generally experienced three phases: R&D, trial production, mass production. To choose the right PCB factory in China for your needs in the different phases never be an easy job. Many buyers are facing the similar issues listed below:

Sampling/Prototyping Phase

Lead Time “Trap”

R&D engineers encounter various problems in research and development stage. Repeating test is the common factor that urges R&D dept. racing against time.

However, there is a common “misleading” towards the lead time of PCBs for prototyping between manufacturers and R&D users. The manufacturers which have little competing edge on mass production often deploy themselves in the competition of this type of services. Cautiously, in order to satisfy the requests from their potential clients on urgency, some small firms obtain the advantage on short lead time by opting out some “unimportant” testing processes.

I have heard many similar stories. The developers had to spend plenty of time on verifying and testing the PCBA to define the error. It is very time consuming and frustrating in the R&D cycle. So it is critical to find the manufacturers very reliable on quality and have the PCBs comprehensively tested before being shipped out.

EQ & QC Support

  (A PCB expert services centre in China)

If the customer is not very sensitive on price, I would always suggest to choose the well-known PCB manufacturers for Prototyping. Firstly, the lead time is generally calculated after the EQ (engineering questions) done. A professional EQ team is able to respond you promptly and effectively which save you plenty of time on EQ. Moreover, the experienced PCB engineers could quickly discover the issues when transferring a design to production in reality. Additionally, a strict QC process with experience team could significantly decrease the possibility on the PCB faulty rate. 

Batch Production

Build Matrix

When you start choosing a manufacturer for your mass production among all the certified ones, it is a good idea to build you matrix to demonstrate the price differences. 

Different manufacturers have different competing edges depending on their machinery setups, producing experiences, the current clients types. For instance, mostly multi-layers manufactures would happy to take any multi-layers orders that they are capable to produce. However, price-wise, some would be competitive on low layers, e.g.2-4L, while some others may have better price on higher layers.

The price differences on the add-on specifications is another factor impact the final price a lot. However, these may not be disclosed until you check with the sales representatives of the factories one by one. It very time consuming but it would definitely help you on saving the cost when it is a big amount.

Choose the Best “Window”  

Generally, the manufacturers themselves know their position in the industry and understand that who are the real potential clients for the long-term businesses. However, the window of the manufacturers (also known as “sales Dept.”, “Export Dept.” “International Trading Dept.” and etc.) quite often would be very sales driven that always try to convert the potential leads to their customers anyway, no matter if they are competitive in the differentiated field or not. The expectations on profitability for each transaction from them are different as well. Generally, if you are going to place a big order, you may have better offer if you could deal with the sales manager/director straightaway.

Monitor the Trends

There are still numbers of factors that are significantly relevant to the price fluctuation. Some manufacturers may re-positioning due to the regulation changes of Chinese government (e.g. pollution control, tax benefits), product line cannibalization, industrial giants’ strategic movements, and etc. All of these factors would impact the existing price changes from time to time. Thus, it always be beneficial to keep monitoring the transformation of the industry. Once you are affected, switch from one to anther strategically.