Circumstances That Influence Your PCB Assembly Quote

While working on PCB fabrication and assembly, numerous situations go along. There are times where you even end up with an expensive quote if you are not vigilant about the executed choice. But need not to worry, as you can adjust your Printed Circuit Board Assembly request to get a better quote for your project. The only thing you need to be aware of is what factors are influencing your PCB assembly quote. Due to the number of components and their types, there will be a change in the prices. However, the cost fluctuates depending upon the component type and technology preferred by the consumer.

Here are some key factors to keep in mind the next time you order prototype PCBs, so you know what makes your PCB assembly quote fluctuate.

Factors impacting the cost of a prototype PCB assembly

Depending on the project parameters, the cost of prototype PCBAs varies. For instance, the size of a standard Printed Circuit board will typically be less expensive than custom dimensions.

The size of the PCB is one of the most critical factors to remember, as the requested size can have a significant impact on your quotation. For the majority of applications standard PCB sizes work well, however,  sometimes you might need a larger print circuit board that can increase the cost of your quote — the number of PCB layers. Depending on how complex the layers are, your quotation can surge up according to your requested PCB assembly.

For instance, the most complex circuit boards usually have 42 layers, whereas, standard multilayer PCBs have 4 to 10 sheets. Hence, you need to have a check on the number of layers required for your prototype printed circuit board that is the thickness of the board. It is true that the number of sheets your PCB has influenced its depth, although the actual width of the board measures in ounces of copper. As a result, a thicker board will cost have a higher quotation, due to the usage of more copper in the PCB assembly. With most numbers of PCB designers use between 1 to 2 ounces of copper, it is better to take into account the multiple ounces of copper your PCB manufacturing company uses. However, few manufacturers provide up to 6 ounces of copper.

The price of the components is the second important factor, as the component quantity is very less. Therefore we have to secure them online, as the overheads of the stockist, shipping charges everything comes out to be somewhat pricey.

Lastly, the cost of machine manufacturing also plays a vital role in impacting the expense of a prototype PCB assembly. The programming and machine set up time required for a prototype are the same as for the bulk production, so overall the production charges sum up as it has to amortize to a small quantity.

PCC with 19+ years of experience have gain expertise in the design and manufacturing of Printed Circuit Boards and has also added Circuit Card Assembly services to augment and capture the client base, as a complete one-stop EMS provider in mind. We provide PCB Assembly Services for low and medium volume, high mix products, to various customer markets globally. Our CCA, circuit card assembly lines are versatile for multiple sizes and substrates types. From multi-layered to flexible PCBs, we have expertise in each aspect of the Printed Circuit Board Assembly and manufacturing services. We support simple, small boards to complex HDI boards in volume or prototypes.