If you’ve ever seen a business listed as “turnkey,” it means the business is ready to go as soon as you walk through the door and turn on the open sign. No extra work is needed to get the business ready to go. The same is true with turnkey PCB assembly. The process is simple, handled in-house, and requires no extra work to get your order ready. Because no extra work is required, the process from start to finish is speedy, consistent, and less expensive than the traditional PCB assembly process.
Streamlined Channel Speeds the Process
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With turnkey PCB assembly, manufacturers do not need much lead time. This short lead time is due to the efficiency of the process which is done completely in-house. In traditional PCB manufacturing, the process can take weeks or months, because several firms, partners, and logistics are involved.
The in-house process removes all of the exterior channels like outsourced designers, parts suppliers, and engineers. Several lines of communication are reduced to one, thus improving efficiency, speed, and quality.
Designs and Quotes
In the traditional manufacturing process, designs and quotes take time. The files get passed from engineers to sales to customers, and back again. The design changes and confirmations can slow the process from the very beginning. Sometimes the involved parties are in different countries, which slows the process even more.
However, with turnkey PCB assembly, these conversations are done in-house and directly with the designer and customer, so the process is smooth and speedy.
Parts and Components Acquisition
In traditional PCB assembly, manufacturers relied on different companies to acquire parts for their PCB components. The company responsible for the final assembly had to coordinate with the components suppliers who had to coordinate with the parts suppliers.
With so many channels:
Errors happened regularly. The entire process was slow, and errors slowed it more. With turnkey PCB assembly, all work is done in one location. One person or a small team of employees are responsible for acquiring all of the parts and can do it quickly. The parts department orders everything as soon as the design is ready to go. This process cuts the wait time for acquiring parts, and it reduces the chance of errors.
Once parts arrive, manufacturing and assembly can begin. Since parts departments already have relationships with suppliers, the parts arrive quickly. And, if there happen to be any issues, the suppliers and parts department can work it out rapidly. In traditional PCB manufacturing, parts are shipped to assemblers all over the world. The result is expensive shipping costs.
With turnkey manufacturing, shipping costs decrease as parts go to one location and components do not need to be shipped as they are made in-house.
One Channel Controls the Process
With traditional PCB assembly, manufacturers had to keep tabs on the process which was difficult considering all of the involved channels. With turnkey assembly, engineers know everything that is happening, because all of the steps take place under one roof. The single-channel manufacturing reduces errors, costs, and complaints.