Pete:
Your "rant" could easily be extended to every area of PCBA manufacturing. The rise of PCBA assemblies houses in the 1980s are examples of how management has tried to save upfront costs only to pay more in the end with longer lead times. This is not to say assembly houses are "bad" but it transferred the electronics manufacturing process away from the very people who would be installing and using the PCBAs - the end users. This business model has created lots more finger pointing between end users and the board and assembly houses because the end users no longer retain the experience necessary to clearly determine whether the root cause of a problem is design or process related. Then this century throw in lead-free and you end up with lots of folks working very hard in this industry but with all too great ignorance of the materials and processes they are using, all the while trying to keep quarterly profits in a positive position. I will now get off my soap box.
Gregg Owens
Technical Writer - Avionics
Space Exploration Technologies Corporation
(310) 363-6533
-----Original Message-----
From: TechNet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Pete Houwen
Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 2010 7:19 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [TN] Contract PCB Design Services T&C
Bob, I'm in a rather similar situation. A company of 3000+, R&D locations on 3
continents and 2 islands. I am the sole remaining PCB designer.
To answer your questions first:
1. We have a set of company specific design standards, mostly to make sure
the data we receive is compatible with MRP and CAM standards, and it makes
it easier for me to pick up the "finished" job and, well, finish it. But we don't
keep a standard agreement, as the services we require change based on the
design.
2. If a company can not deliver what we have asked for, either during or at
the end, they don't get paid. In a situation such as yours, a mutual
agreement to terminate the effort, we would pay them for the part of the
work we can use, whatever did meet parts of the agreement. This has
happened before.
now the rant:
We laid off all the designers but me. We send the work to China, using
engineers with no PCB experience whatsoever, to do design and
documentation. Their cost is 1/3 of ours. It takes them 3x as long to deliver
a design. Between the time I spend getting them started and correcting
after, I spend 1.5x what it would take to do the design myself. To Sr.
management, this is cost savings. Lately, we have been contacting one of
the designers we laid off. We pay him almost what it cost when he was
employed here. And again, add in my time, so we're about even now. That
works well, except that he has another full time job, so turn time is longer.
And since I am stretched so thin, there have been errors - costly errors, and
reduced manufacturability.
Here's hoping the new "Undercover Boss" TV series starts opening some eyes.
Pete
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