Frustrated with Printed Circuit Board Assembly Suppliers

J

JkelleyCDS

#1
Across the board (no pun intended) I see numerous issues with all ten of my PCBA suppliers. Anywhere from board layer issues, hidden solder connection issues, poor workmanship, component failures, and it goes on and on.

It has gotten to the point that I have run out of options on who to choose. They all were ISO certified, have standard process controls, and even the latest technological equipment.

Anyone know of any positive experiences out there? Any references for a turnkey (2-3 week) supplier?

:frust:
 
Elsmar Forum Sponsor
#2
Oh yeah! That's one of my major professional milestones! Taking 4/5 'also ran' pcb suppliers and turning the whole supply chain around!

It took a while, needed a very supportive Purchasing manager and a lot of blood, sweat and tears with the Product engineering community!

But we went from rejecting nearly every batch of boards to a 'dock to stock' supply policy and, more importantly, the development of both internal pcb design standards - where none existed, and collaborative design. Oh, and we didn't know how to spell ISO!

What can I help you with?
 
J

JkelleyCDS

#3
My focus is getting to the "dock to stock" point. But sorry for my pessimism, I can't honestly see that happening.

Can you refer me to some companies? You mentioned blood, sweat, and tears. Ouch, I don't know if I can make it through that. I'm already scarred ;).

How about some numbers on RoHs versus leaded? I feel in my gut that the issues are RoHs related.

Thanks! It sounds like I am talking to the right person!
 

Al Rosen

Staff member
Super Moderator
#4
My focus is getting to the "dock to stock" point. But sorry for my pessimism, I can't honestly see that happening.

Can you refer me to some companies? You mentioned blood, sweat, and tears. Ouch, I don't know if I can make it through that. I'm already scarred ;).

How about some numbers on RoHs versus leaded? I feel in my gut that the issues are RoHs related.

Thanks! It sounds like I am talking to the right person!
Try Tech Circuits.
 
#5
Oh, dear! The problem is, I was in England and it was back in '85......:lol:

But the principles are still good! The primary areas of improvement were:

1) finding a supplier who knew their manufacturing capabilities - track spacing, thickness, hole sizing etc.

Once I did that - I already had one 'up my sleeve' - it was then just a case of painfully working feeding back all the front end engineering comments back through the design change control process, board by board. That then got the Engineering management's attention and lead to:-

2) the consultation with the supplier as to why in-house design standards were a good thing (!)

From the results of winning the trust of the engineers (they didn't have to do any more changes due to manufacturability issues) they began to invite the supplier to review new designs.....

Voila!
 
#8
Whoops! I completely missed the Asssembly part - I was thinking board manufacture!

However, my comments are still somewhat apropos! I found that to have a board that can be populated correctly, the basic board design needs to be up to scratch in the first place. Although much of what you describe are assembly process related problems, some issues can be cause by bare board quality. Without getting that sorted, you will only end up chasing your tail.

May I also ask why you have so many suppliers? It's long been known that it's far better to approach single sourcing when you can reap so many benefits from such an arrangement. If you are contracting out assembly to so many, do you really have the volume to justify this? Do you have enough $$ leverage to get the suppliers' attention? You might want to revisit your purchasing strategy, since this can fundamentally affect what you're trying to achieve!
 
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J

JkelleyCDS

#9
I tried everything with CARs, failure analysis activities, but the responses and cooperation wan't the best.

It was very hard to find any trends, except that the issues were RoHs related. This involves solder wetting (meniscus) issues due to temperature influence, trying thermocouple tests (which is very expensive.

Thanks for your feedback.
 

Le Chiffre

Quite Involved in Discussions
#10
I've taken my company from a mentality of swapping suppliers on every build to working with one and developing the relationship. I've always had issues initially but these can be worked through by empowering the assembly house with the tools to verify and debug their own work. Now I don't get to see any of the failures as they're all fixed before delivery. The quality improvement was dramatic once I gave them test scenarios including firmware and peripheral devices to exercise each and every assembly.
 
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