Does Industry Experience Make a Difference in PCB Assembly?

Does Industry Experience Make a Difference in PCB Assembly?

Industry experience can be an important factor when selecting a PCB assembly manufacturing partner. It can also be a detriment to your project if specific industry experience is the sole or primary reason for selecting a partner to produce your printed circuit board assemblies or box builds.

Industry experience is important.

Please don’t get us wrong. As with many other companies in the circuit board assembly industry, we certainly believe that having specific experience in a particular industry can be a benefit when called upon to work on new projects in that same industry. 

We are not ashamed to tout our successes with some of the largest names in the world, as well as many local and regional companies that require very specific knowledge in order to effectively produce a high quality assembly. From consumer electronics and medical devices to mechanical applications and advanced micro-electronics, our decades of experience absolutely makes a difference.

Being really good in a particular niche can certainly be relevant and important. 

We believe flexibility, along with targeted experience, is more important. 

The challenge with those who only push their expertise in a particular field is that their work can get stale, and just like those who are still using their BlackBerry, they may lack the ability to be innovative and think outside the box. They are often “stuck” in the same mindset they’ve been in for decades in some cases. 

Niche experience is good, as long as it’s paired with great minds that are willing to consider new ideas and are open to new methods of reaching a desired outcome. 

When you ask the question, “Do you have experience in my industry?” maybe you could consider a slight variation of the question:  

“Other than your specific successes and experience in our industry, how have you addressed similar challenges in another industry and how might that help us?”

This will help you find out how truly experienced a team of designers and engineers is and how well that team can apply its collective knowledge and skills to addressing your most critical needs. We welcome this question and look forward to sharing some of the truly creative solutions we’ve come up with for our clients - across a variety of industries!

Other factors to consider.

Beyond specific experience in a market or niche, there are several other factors that should be considered when evaluating a company to produce your printed circuit board assembly.

• Production Equipment & Capabilities:

 Has the business invested adequately in equipment, software and people to be able to deliver on its promises and ensure you are getting the best end product?.

• Engineering & Design:

 What kind of expertise does the company have in the areas of engineering and design? Are they farming this stuff out or do they have a “team approach” and work with you as an extension of your own team?

• Space & Capacity:

 Do they have the physical space to handle your project? Do they have the capacity—in workforce and equipment—to deliver your PCB assembly on time? Are there redundancies and safeguards in place to address unique circumstances that may come up?

Request a FREE Project Review or Snapshot Analysis

Are you looking to improve your printed circuit board assembly or box build? Or maybe you’re in the early stages of a new product design? If so, request a free project review today, and we’ll reach out to you to learn more about your project.

If you’re not quite ready for a full quote, try a free “Snapshot Analysis” of your current board or initial drawings. We’ll take a look and give you our thoughts based on more than 100 years of combined experience. 

In the end, quality is our focus. We hope to hear from you soon.