10 Tips To Calculate The Cost For Custom PCB Assembly Service

PCB assembly is one of the most important parts of manufacturing a product. As electronics become smaller and more complex, PCB assembly becomes a necessary step in the manufacturing process. While it is possible to assemble your own boards at home, most people find it’s worth the investment for quality PCBs assembled by professionals.

Design engineers and managers are always looking for ways to make their printed circuit board (PCB) assembly service work more efficiently. In order to do this, they need a basic understanding of the processes involved in the custom PCB Assembly service. One of those is to estimate PCB assembly costs before running a project. Here are 10 simple tips that will help you estimate custom PCB assembly service costs.

The first tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

For assembly of a batch of PCB boards, average the cost per board including all labor and material costs for setup and run time. Thus if it takes 8 hours to custom printed circuit board assembly and you pay a $ 20-hour employee salary plus $15 per hour for materials, this equals an average cost per board of $27.

The second tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

For small quantities of custom PCB assembly orders, the setup cost can be as high as 80% of your total production. This percentage increases with larger batches of custom PCB assembly orders and is less noticeable when you have smaller quantities to produce in contrast because they only account for 20%.

The third tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Standard process-based unit costs are usually highest for low-volume custom PCB assembly production because nearly all of the setup and part purchasing has already been done in previous high-volume production runs. Labor rates are also higher for low-volume production runs.

The fourth tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Be sure to take into account the true cost of your custom PCB assembly service when planning. Make sure you aren’t using false estimates and unrealistic targets for setup fees, materials costs, or anything else that may come with a new construction job.

The fifth tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Use the same manufacturing methods as your volume production process to accurately estimate custom PCB Assembly service cost.

The sixth tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Every custom PCB assembly service item on the bill of materials will have an amount allocated to it. Every product line, from raw material suppliers all the way down to finished goods should include a value for taxes/levies and other types of expenses incurred during the production process if they are applicable so that you can account for them accordingly at each stage in BOMs tables.

The seventh tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

The cost of custom PCB assembly should not be included in your product costs. Your product costs should only include the cost of components, PCBs, and any other printed material that is sold with the finished product.

The eighth tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Any additional non-recurring engineering charges are usually applied to the first batch run. This means that if you order more than one, it will be at an increased cost but with benefits like faster turnaround time.

The ninth tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Component lead time may affect the cost of your custom printed circuit board assembly project. Longer lead times mean lower prices for small runs.

The last tip to calculate custom PCB assembly cost

Make sure the factors in all the costs associated with product development include alternate sources of parts, engineering, design, and software services if components are not readily available in high volume production quantities.

Conclusion:

Custom PCB assemblies are a complex process, but the benefits of custom printed circuit board assembly service providers for this task can make it worth your while. If you want to design and build custom printed circuit boards, then you will need to consider how much it will cost in order to get the product manufactured in the China PCB assembly factory. These tips are useful in estimating the overall cost for a custom PCB assembly service.