Relying on a single source is a recipe for failure.

“Good, fast and cheap … pick two” is an old maxim that applies – to a degree, anyway – to the printed circuit board industry.

The implications, of course, are that if it’s fast and good, it’s going to be expensive; if it’s good and cheap, it will require lots of time; and if it’s cheap and fast, the quality will be poor.

PCB buyers should keep this in mind when choosing vendors and avoid relying too much on one supplier if they want good quality boards delivered on time and at a reasonable price.

While PCB manufacturers use basically the same equipment, raw materials and processes to build boards, it is ultimately their business philosophy that differentiates one from another.

There are vendors that specialize in prototype or quickturn orders of several pieces in as many days. There are others that want only high-volume orders with a definitive schedule. Many PCB manufacturers focus on producing multiple part numbers with a variety of quantities required, also known as high-mix, low-to-medium-volume production.

Even if your firm has very specific needs within that range of production strategies, you should have at least two suppliers with varying approaches and strengths to ensure you can consistently meet customer expectations.

Some PCB vendors have plenty of well-trained staff to support their customer base, whether it’s in front-end and process engineering support, production, quality assurance or shipping. Many are struggling, though, to hire and retain the staff required to successfully run a board house.

In today’s challenging workforce environment, even facilities with the newest equipment and largest production capacity are still only as good as the people behind the machines or on the other end of the phone. Personnel problems affect not only the quality (good) but timely delivery (fast) of your circuit board orders.

And that brings us to the “cheap” segment of the old saying. While PCBs are custom-made items, manufacturers pay similar costs overall to build them. But supplier pricing will vary, depending on their overhead expenses.

Just because a vendor has the latest equipment or more personnel (and therefore more overhead) does not necessarily mean its prices will be higher in the long run. A supplier with cost-effective and efficient processes in place to ensure timely delivery of quality product will be able to offer PCB buyers a lower total cost of ownership.

Higher yields mean a competitively priced PCB, on-time deliveries and a reduced chance of short shipments or quality problems.

A short shipment from the board shop means a possible delay in boards hitting the production floor, or a chance for double assembly setups because of a customer’s need to have some product on hand now rather than later.

Receipt of poor-quality PCBs could result in poorly assembled boards, costing your company the components, the labor to make those assemblies, and revenue from not making those deliveries in the first place.

And let’s not even mention the possibility of field failures, as well as the analysis time required for those failures and the hit to your company’s reputation.

My intent is not to belittle any company’s current vendor base. Instead, I’m encouraging you to fully evaluate price versus cost – again, that total cost of ownership. Navigating today’s PCB supply challenges requires an apples-to-apples comparison that considers all factors that influence vendor performance.

And regardless of how good a particular vendor may be, board buyers should not put all their eggs in one basket. It is best to have more than one supplier. •

Greg Papandrew has more than 25 years’ experience selling PCBs directly for various fabricators and as founder of a leading distributor. He is cofounder of Better Board Buying (boardbuying.com); greg@directpcb.com.

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