While sourcing the PCBs one of the major concerns for the customers is identifying a PCB manufacturer that is ready to deliver the required PCBs within their budget. You too are likely to be focusing on the cost of the PCBs and on the quotes received from the PCB manufacturers. In this context, it is important that you know clearly all the factors that will increase the PCB sourcing costs.
If you do not engage a highly professional and experienced PCB layout design expert then the PCB manufacturing costs will shoot up. If you do not have adequate experience in PCB sourcing then you would not be able to immediately appreciate the importance of professionally designed PCB layout. The PCB design should be fully optimised for material utilisation. If your boards are going to larger than required even by just 1mm then it will cumulatively have a huge impact on the costs. You are likely to get thousands of PCBs every year.
It is not just the material costs of the boards but if the boards are larger than required then the materials used will also be more. Therefore, it is vital that you get the experts to take care of your needs. Along these lines, it is important that you settle for regular sized boards. If the PCBs are going to be in irregular shapes, then the material wastage will be high due to poor material utilization.
Failing to spot the most competitively priced quotes without sacrificing on the quality of the PCBs delivered will also result in increase in the PCB manufacturing costs. When you are comparing the quotes, you should have other selection criteria too for selection. Cost factor should be one of the last factors to consider. You will be required to first find out whether your manufacturer is capable of meeting your requirements or whether they are known for their commitment to quality and so on. In case you should blindly go with the lowest priced PCBs without considering all the above factors then you might save on the PCB manufacturing or PCB sourcing costs but you will not be impressing your customers. If the PCBs used are not of the right quality, then your device will fail to work exactly the way you promise it would work. This will disappoint your customers and as a result lose them for ever to your competitors. Your brand would suffer poor reputation and it could even completely ruin your market. It is therefore not worth saving a few dollars on the PCB quotes if it is going to make you lose your market. All your marketing budget would go wasted if you cannot impress the customers that you attract after spending a lot of money on marketing. You need to take all such factors when trying to save money on your PCBs. Comparing just the costs will do no good because it is a very superficial approach and a huge mistake.
