Tips on Choosing the Right PCB Manufacturer in 2020

Guide to PCB Design: How to Choose PCB Manufacturer

Finding a PCB manufacturer might be a challenging task, especially if you are an amateur. Your limited knowledge may not guide you in the best possible way. Thus, leading to additional problems. After all, Printed Circuit Boards are the heart of every electronics.

A low quality, unreliable printed circuit board will have a direct impact on the quality and efficiency of your product. So, it is important for you to choose only the PCB supplier.

By the by, this by no means is a comprehensive list of the low- or high-quality manufacturers. We do not plant talk about the quality of any manufacturer. On the contrary, we are going to provide you with some effective tips.

These tips would help you make a better decision when choosing a PCB manufacturer. So, without any further delay, let us focus on the tips below.

Tips for Choosing the Right PCB Manufacturer                              

Printed Circuit Board Quality

Of course, when buying a Printed Circuit Board for your electronics, the first thing that you need to focus on is quality. Only a high-quality PCB can assure reliable and better-performing electronics.

The term “quality” has an abstract meaning in the Printed Circuit Board industry. There are several aspects that come under quality. So, a manufacturer calming to produce high quality Printed Circuit Boards, need to focus on all these aspects and not just one.

PCB quality focuses on different aspects. Here are some of these aspects:

• Printed Circuit Board clears the Bare Board Test
• The holes are drilled and placed accurately.
• The board needs to have the right dimensions as per the consumer’s demand.
• Minimum board wrapping. However, this mainly depends upon the board design.
• Many other aspects.

A Manufacturer should retain the quality for every batch. Delivering high-quality order for the main order and then deteriorating the quality would be highly unprofessional. It would not only damage the manufacturer’s image but at the same time, have an adverse impact on the consumer’s brand.

Therefore, it is imperative for the quality to remain high consistently. These kinds of mistakes can endanger the Printed Circuit Board assembly that can then lead to troubled electronics. Consistently bad manufacturing will eventually hurt the PCB manufacturing company.

A good way to see whether the manufacturer offers quality is to reach out to their old clients. In addition, you can ask non-competing companies regarding a particular PCB manufacturer. This would provide the right kind of information to make the correct decision.

Manufacturing Cost of Printed Circuit Board

You might have come across Printed Circuit Boards that offer extremely low-cost. You might consider them. However, do bear in mind that extremely low cost generally is a result of compromised quality.

A reliable PCB manufacturer would not offer a cost that is beyond believable. Moreover, they would never compromise on quality. They would charge only what is required. They would charge you less while retaining the quality of the Printed Circuit Board.

Therefore, do not focus on the low cost too much. After all, the joy of low cost is overcome by the sorrow of poor quality. Just reach out to a Printed Circuit Board manufacturer who can balance between the quality and cost.

 Requirement Fulfilling Ability

This is an interesting aspect especially if your product requires sophisticated and complex Printed Circuit Boards. Not all manufacturers have the ability to produce high-end, sophisticated Printed Circuit Boards.

Yes, all would claim that they have the capabilities, but sadly not all would fulfill their promise. So, make sure that the manufacturer is able to accept the file in the format. This generally isn’t a big problem because the formats are standard.

Nonetheless, it should be able to produce that board as per the consumer’s requirements. The board should have the desired number of layers, the substrate should be of requested material among others. A good idea is to run the Printed Circuit Board thorough a checklist. This would help ensure that it is as per the consumer’s demands.

Avoid Brokers

Brokers are real and several online companies reach out to them. In case, you are wondering what a broker is, so let us explain it to you. A broker is someone, who would take an order from you and then pass it on to someone else.

Mainly because the broker does not have the capability to develop or produce the product. So, they would be on the front end and someone unknown would be working on the other end.

The main problem with these kind arrangements is that these brokers do not guarantee quality. They are reaching out to different manufacturers at one time and you might have got the same consistency throughout your batches.

Nonetheless, there are certain good brokers as well. If you find one, you are lucky as it would cost you quite less. Provided, you find one, which is very tricky. So, reaching out directly to the manufacturer is a better and reliable option.

Custom Relationship

Only if a PCB manufacturer concerned about their client’s feedback and relationship, will it be able to come up with quality work? After all, their main objective would be to develop a long-lasting relationship with the consumer.

In addition, the coordination between the Printed Circuit Board manufacturer and the client would eliminate communication problems. Both the PCB manufacturer and the consumer would have a clear understanding of the progress and specification of the in-process Printed Circuit Board.

Timescales

In case, you do not have any specific deadline, it would be easy for you to reach out to a company that charges less, but take more time. However, in case, you have to meet a deadline, then finding the best PCB supplier will be challenging.

After all, you would want someone who is cost-efficient, delivers high-quality Printed Circuit Boards, and are able to meet the deadlines.

One way to figure out is whether a particular PCB is able to deliver a quality product on time is to contact their previous clients. They would be able to provide you with firsthand experience at how good a particular manufacturer is at keeping their promises.

Material Sourcing

You might be thinking, why do you need to learn about their material source. It might seem irrelevant, but it is extremely important. Remember, the material that they use would have a direct impact on the quality of your Printed Circuit Board.

Therefore, you need to make sure that the manufacturer is using the best possible material for your Printed Circuit Board. The suppliers for the raw material should check out.

Testing

Without proper testing, you would ever be sure of the quality of the Printed Circuit Board. Make sure that the manufacturer that you reach out to have an in-house or any other way of testing the Printed Circuit Boards.

Only if a company tests its products, would they be able to deliver quality pieces.

State of the Art Technology

When everything moving so fast, it is important for the PCB manufacturing company to upgrade itself. With the increased demands of sophisticated Printed Circuit Boards, the manufacturers need to upgrade their equipment.

Modern technology would allow them to create Printed Circuit Boards that would be able to meet the demand of today’s electronics.

Take Away

We understand that selecting a PCB manufacturer is not an easy task. However, if you focus on the key factors including reputation, equipment, customer relationship, etc. you will be able to make the right decision.

Miracle-P-WB is among the leading Printed Circuit Board Manufacturers. They have state of the art technology and they deliver high-quality PCBs within limited time and budget. You can reach out to them:

Phone: +86-755-85246345

Email: info@miraclepwb.com