There is no need to scrap a product that doesn't work properly or is obsolete. Give it new life with reverse engineering. Reverse engineering is a way to duplicate a product, subassembly, or component and find out what once made it tick. This is especially handy when you don't have documentation or original drawings for your PCB assembly.
PCB fabrication and assembly is a pretty straightforward process, however, there are factors early in the production process that could hold up your production and bust your budget before your printed circuit boards are even close to rolling off the assembly line. PCB designs and set ups can vary greatly, and so can the price to produce them.
Through-hole assembly, once the most common electronic assembly technique, has become rare in a world where tiny components with many connectors are the norm. Through-hole assembly is an excellent choice for producing a high-quality PCB assembly, but it cannot perform well when small size is the top priority. In some instances, particularly in unpredictable or extreme environments where high reliability is important, through-hole assembly is still the best way to go.
The world of electronics is constantly changing. It’s an industry with a rapid pace evolution and shows no signs of slowing down, but the printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) process is one standard among this swift progression.
Obtaining a quote from your electronic contract manufacturer (ECM) for printed circuit board assembly sounds simple. But don't let that impression fool you. Your quote is, perhaps, the most important factors in your PCB assembly project's success or failure.
Whether it’s your first time contracting with an electronic contract manufacturer or your hundredth, there are things you want to land in your contract and things you want to avoid. By watching for a few key tells, you can be the kid with all the king-sized candy bars and none of the tricks after trick-or-treating.
Even with the best designs, supply chain management, and manufacturing standards, mistakes sometimes happen. You don’t go into a project anticipating problems, but good project management means considering what might happen if your product has errors. You’ll want to know ahead of time how your electronics manufacturing service will handle troubleshooting and repair for your electronics manufacturing.
If you have held a TV remote control in your hand, punched a button on a microwave or adjusted a digital thermostat, you have interacted with surface mount technology, or SMT. Since the 1980s, nearly all mass-produced electronics are now manufactured using SMT.
For an electronic device that requires any kind of reliability, the solder paste printing process is arguably the most important step in its assembly. Taking a close look at how an electronic manufacturing service does its solder paste printing is, a reliable way to separate a good electronic manufacturing service from one of lower quality.
The electronics industry is extremely diversified. It includes manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, retailers, and many more. This sector has been growing at a rapid pace with the invention of innovative technologies.
However, in an industry like electronics manufacturing that moves at a rapid pace, it is imperative that mistakes are kept to a minimum. Additionally, if and when errors occur, they must be corrected immediately in order to stop the trickle down effect that could cost customers valuable time and money.
The term Electronic Manufacturing Service took off in the early 1970s. Up until that point, most large-scale production was handled by in-house assembly. As manufacturing evolved, smaller electronic manufacturing services sprang up to deliver low-cost assemblies by taking advantage of economies of scale. Manufacturing, material procurement and the pooling of design and customer support services made this an attractive alternative to costly in-house operations.
Does it seem like everything you need – all your parts and materials – are either going way up in price, taking longer to get, or completely inaccessible altogether?
It doesn’t just seem that way.
