Contract electronics manufacturing involves the outsourcing of small to
medium electronic assembly services, electro-mechanical assembly
services, and batch PCB assembly. Subcontract electronic manufacturing
is important because you will be able to concentrate on running your
business and you will avoid the capital-intensive tasks of building a
plant, hiring staff, and buying equipment for the assembly. Choose your
contract electronics manufacturer carefully to get value for money.

Quality should be your most important consideration. A good
manufacturer is one whose company is ISO 9001 (2009) and ISO 14001
certified. The company should be OSAS 18001 registered and it should
follow Class 2 IPC standards. All the systems should be state-of-the-art
and should be ROHS compliant. The manufacturer should do testing before
delivering the product. The manufacturer should do optical, X-ray, and
AOI inspection, there should be tailored functionality testing, and
there should be flying probe and pin bed testing. The materials used
should be of a high standard and should have the right thickness.

Ensure that the manufacturer you go for produces exactly what you are
looking for. You could make this determination by going through the
catalog. Although, as the term suggests, contract electronics
manufacturers produce electronic products on contract according to your
specifications, different manufacturers specialize in different
assembly.

There should be rapid turn-around time. Failure of
this means you will have problems meeting delivery deadlines and you
could lose money. There should be flexibility (such as if you want extra
parts within a short period) and you should be able to get different
variants of the same product.

You should get value for money. No
matter how complex the electronic product you want is, the manufacturer
should be able to deliver it at a price that will leave you profitable.
The manufacturer’s sourcing team should be in a position to source for
cost effective PCB assemblies and electronic components from different
parts of the world.

Consider if the manufacturer is offering life cycle support. A good
manufacturer will support your electronic product during its whole
lifetime in such areas as legacy product management, revision
management, retrofit systems integration & testing, and obsolescence
planning.

Ensure that that manufacturer has the capacity to do a
good job – some manufacturers promise more than they can deliver.
Consider the capacity of the production facility and the training and
experience of the electronic engineers. A good manufacturer is one who
has been around for several years. Such a company will have learnt from
its successes and mistakes.

You could get tips on a good
contract electronic assembly manufacturer by reading independent
reviews. These are advantageous in that they give you both the merits
and demerits of the manufacturer. You could also get recommendations
from others in your industry and read posts in relevant discussion
forums. Check with the relevant regulatory bodies to ensure the
manufacturer is licensed and bonded.

Check with consumer
protection agencies and the local Chamber of Commerce to determine if
there are complaints about the company you are considering. You will be
making a big mistake if you make cost considerations your primary
considerations. You expect to pay for high quality products.