The Benefits of Full Turnkey PCB Assembly for Streamlined Production

Okay, if you’ve ever designed a PCB then assembled it yourselves from scratch then you’ll understand the pain. Component procurement for electronics can be a nightmare.

Extended lead times, distributors not having the required components in stock, waiting on customers to receive orders only for them to be out of stock… it’s enough to make you want to pull your hair out.

But why exactly are more and more companies opting for full turnkey PCB assembly instead? Let’s take a look at what full turnkey PCB assembly means, how it can benefit you, and when you should be using it:

Full Turnkey PCB Assembly Defined:

First things first – let’s define what full turnkey PCB assembly means.

When you work with somebody on a “turnkey” basis, you provide them with your PCB design files and they take it from there. Literally. From bare board fabrication all the way through to delivery of finished tested boards.

Compare this with working with multiple suppliers yourself, or consigned PCB assembly where you provide all the components. Full turnkey PCB assembly is hands off from start to finish.

💡 Analogy: It’s like asking a builder to build you a house, instead of ordering the bricks yourself, and getting someone else to lay them.

Save Yourself Time

Passing off component procurement to a third party is going to save you a huge amount of time. Time you can spend designing new products, capturing more market share, or just having a life outside of work.

Trying to source components yourself takes hours of Googling part numbers, emailing suppliers, checking MOQs, filtering by availability – not to mention the dreaded “currently on a 26-week lead time” component.

Your turnkey assembler will already have partnerships with large distributors and will know:

• Which components are readily available
• Which will potentially have issues
• How long things will take to arrive

Passing the procurement process onto experts will streamline your supply chain and remove painful delays. In fact, I know engineers that believe they save anywhere from 2-4 weeks per design by not having to procure the components themselves. Time is money, and if you can shave a couple of weeks off your project by sending it to turnkey, then what’s stopping you?

It’s Probably Cheaper Than You Think

You may be thinking to yourself “yeah but they must be charging you an arm and a leg for that convenience”. But hear me out. Turns out most people don’t realise that by sourcing components yourself, you’re probably going to end up spending more. Why? Well think about it…

Your turnkey assembler will be buying components in bulk for hundreds of different projects. They will get better pricing than you sourcing a couple hundred 0805 resistors. They will also know where to get hold of cheaper alternatives that meet the same specifications without sacrificing quality.

Also, have you factored in the hidden costs of sourcing and managing suppliers yourself?

• Engineering time to find and qualify suppliers and component alternatives
• Storage costs for over-ordering components
• Shipping charges from multiple suppliers
• Costs associated with ordering minimum quantities
• Risk of components going obsolete while still in stock

When you factor all of this, turnkey often becomes the cheaper option.

Better Quality Control

One supplier to blame if something goes wrong. No hiding behind “We checked the components arrived ok, but the assembler didn’t follow the process correctly” when a full turnkey assembler is responsible for the entire process.

I’ve had customers experience issues with consigned build jobs where someone else had ordered components from “who knows where” to save a few pounds. These components turned up counterfeit, were the wrong component values – you name it.

Yes, there will always be rogue operators. But the more removed you are from the process, the less control you have. And when things do go wrong, you’re screwed.

Easier to Scale

Your prototype worked flawlessly. The customer loved it. Fast forward a few months and they want 5000 boards by the start of Q2. Again, fantastic news. But where are you going to source thousands of these tiny 01005 capacitors from overnight?

Again, your turnkey assembler has probably already done the hard work when you sent them your design for prototyping. They will know your bill of materials back to front, will have already qualified your components and will be ready to scale up for production.

They can:

1. Forecast availability of components
2. Notify you of any components that may cause problems when ordering larger quantities
3. Adjust procurement lead times accordingly

Your job? Sit back and watch the profits roll in.

DFM Feedback

If your assembler is responsible for the entire build process, they are in prime position to give you helpful design feedback that you might not have considered.

Such as:

• “That component has been discontinued – we can use this instead”
• “This footprint is too close to another component and will cause bridging issues”
• “If you move those two caps slightly further apart, we can panelise more boards and lower your unit cost.”

The list goes on. You get valuable design feedback because one team oversees your design from start to finish. Instead of passing parts between a fabricator here, component supplier there and assembler who knows where, it’s all unified under one roof.

A Full Turnkey Build Doesn’t Always Make Sense

There will be occasions where full turnkey PCB assembly isn’t the right approach.

• If you have custom components that only you can source, then you’ll have no choice but to supply these yourself. Or at least a partial consignment.
• Or if you are only building one or two boards then dealing with the suppliers yourself probably isn’t too bad.

But for the majority of prototypes, small-to-medium production batches and companies that want to scale – go full turnkey.

Read More: How to Choose the Right PCB Manufacturer in the UK

Want Less Stress? Get in touch with the Experts of PCB Company Today!

Ok so full turnkey PCB assembly won’t solve all of your problems. You’ll still need to design a great product, create detailed specs etc. But it will take approximately 80% of the headache out of manufacturing your electronics. Allow the experts to handle it.

If you want a UK based company to help you with full turnkey PCB assembly, PCB Company UK can help. We deal with component procurement, assembly, testing and delivery so you can concentrate on what you do best. Get in touch now and see how much easier we can make things for you.