Today, all the no industry or no manufacturer could be 100% independent. All the companies are interdependent and in this context, electronic equipment manufacturers are highly dependent on PCB manufacturers. No electronic equipment company could exist without collaborating with a PCB manufacturing company unless they have their own PCB manufacturing facility.
PCBs or the printed circuit boards control the functioning of the entire electronic equipment. Not all brilliant product ideas are executable and only when the brilliant electronic product idea or concept could be given shape into fully functional equipment it would be of use. This is where the role of PCB manufacturers come into play. Without their help, you will not be able to take your product development to the next stage.
You need to build a PCB prototype first before the proof of concept and the product viability could be established. At this stage, it would be imprudent to set up your own PCB manufacturing unit. It would be more cost effective to send your requirements to an existing PCB manufacturing company. They will be able to develop PCB design and layout based on your requirements and create a prototype that meets your requirements. Only after the prototype is successfully tested and all the issues that emerge during the testing process are carefully addressed, you will be able to go for mass production.
Even before you go for mass production, you need to get a few sample PCBs to test your product so that the entire product’s functionalities could be tested. Once you have tested your product by pushing it to extreme conditions, you will be able to establish the resilience of the product and its stability. Only when you have covered all these factors, you would be able to successfully launch your product.
If you remove the PCB manufacturer’s contribution in this process, you would be left with nothing but just an untested concept. This establishes that every electronic equipment company must first find the right partner to take care of their PCB manufacturing needs.
The first responsibility of any startup electronic equipment company is therefore to find the most trusted PCB manufacturer. Only after you have identified a partner to collaborate with, you would be able to build your company and take your products to your customers.
We cannot emphasize here the importance of PCB manufacturing companies in establishing a successful electronic equipment manufacturing company. Just because we know that it is important to partner with a PCB manufacturing company, it does not mean that the electronic equipment companies can select any random service provider. Before you start requesting for quotes for your PCB manufacturing requirements, you need to find out whether your PCB manufacturer is a dependable company and whether they enjoy good reputation. Many electronic equipment companies send their PCB needs to China PCB manufacturers. It is therefore up to you to get it manufactured locally or outsource to China and get it done at a much cheaper price.
ChinaPCBOne Technology LTD. is the author of this article on PCB manufacturing. Find more information, about PCB prototype.
Adam Smith Clark is a PCB design consultant with a knack for solving complex routing challenges and optimizing circuit board layouts. Find out more PCB Manufacturing