How to Choose a Low Cost PCB Manufacturer

PCB manufacturing is a complex process and requires a high level of skill, so it requires high-end equipment and skilled technicians to complete it together. The cost incurred also varies depending on the difficulty of the product.The PCB manufacturing industry is full of competition and cost can be a major factor in choosing the type of PCB manufacturer.

Cheap PCB manufacturers offer quality boards at very cheap prices. In addition, these manufacturers focus on delivering PCBs with faster lead times.Cheap PCB manufacturers focus on providing the best quality PCBs at low prices.Learn more about low cost PCB manufacturing.

Who are the low cost PCB manufacturers?

A low cost PCB manufacturer offers PCB manufacturing at competitive prices. This manufacturer makes high quality PCBs at a very low cost. Low cost PCB manufacturers provide PCBs that meet the quality standards of the PCB industry. These boards undergo rigorous testing. Therefore, quality control is an important aspect of low-cost PCB manufacturer manufacturing.

Low cost PCB manufacturers provide you with the best quality PCBs at low prices. Moreover, these cheap PCBs are available in different types. low cost PCB manufacturers provide you with high quality and complex PCBs at a low cost.

Cheap PCB does not mean low quality. When we talk about “cheap,” we don’t mean poor quality. Here, the emphasis is more on reducing manufacturing costs while maintaining quality. In addition, each PCB undergoes rigorous testing. Low cost pcb manufacturer ensures that it meets all the quality standards.

Factors to Consider While Choosing a Low Cost PCB Manufacturer

Although in we can choose the cost pcb manufacturer, but the quality of the product is more important, so the low cost pcb manufacturer you choose must have the ability to produce high quality pcb products. Therefore we have to examine this PCB manufacturer from many angles. Specifically, these aspects can be examined.

Product capability

The quality of the printed circuit board will directly affect the application and performance of the product. Therefore, the first principle of evaluating a printed circuit board factory is to check the condition of its products, which can be unfolded from three aspects: quality, industry and cost.

(1) Quality

Everyone desires high quality from the following aspects:
Whether SPC (e.g. component control Cpk or manufacturing management charts) is used in the PCB manufacturing;
Whether continuous quality management improvements such as QCC or TQM are implemented;
Whether ECO management (Engineering Change Order) is applied;
Whether the principles of component exemption control are published in their terms and conditions;

Whether it adheres to stringent quality control assessments, including material inspection records and management, SMT pass rates, AQL levels, document management, BOM maintenance, ESD implementation, and equipment calibration;

(2) Process Industries

Printed circuit boards are used in many different industries, and certain industries have strict and specific requirements for their manufacturing standards. It is almost impossible for a PCB factory to cover all industries evenly. In general, they tend to be better at serving certain industries, but not so good at others. For example, PCB factories proficient in cell phone PCB processing must be experienced enough to limit the space available for their products, while PCB factories primarily used in the aerospace industry must be better at high densities.

In this case, you must understand the industries in which the PCB factory under investigation specializes in order to work with a specialized partner (not a jack-of-all-trades).

Manufacturing Capability

 

As mentioned above, product quality is the soul of a PCB factory, and a PCB factory depends on its capacity.PCB manufacturing and assembly capacity can be demonstrated in the following aspects:

(1) Certificate

The certificate represents the factory’s true manufacturing capability. When you work with PCB factories that are certified to standards such as ISO9001:2008, UL, RoHS, etc., you can rest assured that they will strictly adhere to these certificates for high quality products.

(2) Technology
The technical aspects of the PCB plant under study can be summarized as follows:
Whether the technology it uses meets your requirements and whether the processing capacity meets your requirements;
Whether the factory has advanced processing or automation equipment;
Whether they are creative in their technology.
Ability to lead the market in new processing methods;
Processing capability assessment;
BGA IC repair capability;
0201 or 01005 ability to sell and repair;
RoHS implementation capability;
Integrity of standard operating procedures;
How to avoid incorrect material selection and negative polarity;
Ability to review circuits and provide DFM services;
The component control function (MSL) for moisture sensitivity;
Solder paste temperature recovery, sealing and storage life management functions;
Panel handling functions;

Device Configuration

They can never evolve until they apply advanced technology to the latest equipment. Leading equipment and its required specifications in PCB manufacturing and assembly include:

Solder paste printing accuracy. Is it possible to print widgets such as 01005 and CSP and what type of stencils are required?
Solder paste thickness testers such as SPI;
The accuracy of an SMT bonder is related to its ability to align micropieces.
X-ray inspectors. Generally, X-ray inspection equipment in SMT plants is 2D for short-term inspection and vacancies.
AOI (Automatic Optical Inspection);
ICT equipment (Agilent 3070, GenRad, TR5000);

Assembly Sourcing

For services provided by PCB assemblers, component sourcing is a large part of the process, so it is important to research component sourcing capabilities, including:
Whether they have good relationships with the world’s leading component distributors;
whether the components they purchase are qualified;
whether they accept components supplied by the customer;
Whether they reserve spare parts for your future projects;

Service

Service has a lot to do with how customers really feel once they have completed their order. Compared with “product and function”, this item is very difficult to realize. Regarding the services provided by PCB factories, they mainly include the following aspects:

(1) Delivery time

PCB delivery time can be examined from the following aspects: whether it can provide timely delivery; whether the delivery time meets your company’s requirements; tracking service;

Some manufacturers even provide tracking services for you so that they know where your products are going. Usually, well-known PCB suppliers or assembly suppliers have close cooperation with major courier companies.

(2) Responsiveness

Responsiveness represents the company’s response to customer needs. You can conduct a simple study from the following perspectives:
Can they respond quickly to new orders?
Can they respond to your emails with full details within 24 hours?
Can they provide practical solutions in an emergency?
Can they expand production capacity when you have a rush order?
How quickly can they respond when items are changed before or during production?

Responsibility is not the same as responsiveness. Understandably, salespeople know very little about a company’s manufacturing capabilities, especially when you are seeking technical advice and confirmation. If you encounter a salesperson who tells you that he or she can’t tell you until he or she gets a definitive answer from the company’s technical staff, you can ask the technician directly to discuss these issues. It saves time and helps to avoid unnecessary errors during email transmission.

Why are there cheap PCB manufacturing services?

There are several circuit board manufacturers around the world. There are many factors that affect the cost of PCB manufacturing. The main focus of low cost PCB manufacturing is to reduce costs while maintaining quality. In addition, cheap circuit board manufacturers use different techniques to minimize PCB manufacturing costs.

Low cost circuit boards do not mean poor quality. Cheap circuit board manufacturing services maximize their resources to produce high quality circuit boards.

Low Labor Costs
Labor cost is an influential factor in manufacturing cost. When labor cost is very low, it reduces the manufacturing cost. For example, PCB companies in China offer low cost PCBs due to low labor cost.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology
Cheap PCB manufacturers use advanced manufacturing technologies. Hence, this helps in reducing the manufacturing cost of PCBs. Cheap PCB manufacturers upgrade their manufacturing equipment to reduce PCB costs. In addition, these manufacturers also improve their manufacturing processes to minimize costs.

Low Cost Assembly Materials
Sourcing of components and materials affects the cost of PCB manufacturing. Obtaining quality materials at a cheaper price can help reduce production costs. In addition, most low-cost board manufacturers offer one-stop solutions for PCB manufacturing. Therefore, these manufacturers take the responsibility of sourcing PCB materials.

About us

lst technology is a specialized PCB manufacturer. Why we become a low cost pcb manufacturer, because we have a professional production technology team, fully automated production equipment, which can save a lot of labor cost, and any production problems can be solved in time. We will not sacrifice the quality of pcb. Quality is guaranteed while providing PCB boards at affordable prices. We provide one-stop solution for PCB manufacturing.