I have been involved in a number of supplier audits in Asia. If this is 
your first attempt at sourcing abroad you need to be aware of 2 key 
differences in dealing with Asia. The first is to expect questions on 
every design. Don't underestimate the manpower needed to manage the 
engineering questions. We have hundreds of designs built seamlessly at 
domestic shops but when sent to Asia they provide a significant list of 
questions (which need to be addressed before the fab starts). About 60-80% 
of the question were answered with "build to print",  "build to supplied 
gerber" or "build to provided specification". The second difference 
materials. Asia has it's own menu of laminate suppliers and there is not 
always a 1:1 match in glass styles. Expect to see less of a "discount" for 
US materials. Also in Asia material is about 70% of the board cost. (US is 
generally 30%)

You also need to understand what you need to look for in the audit. This 
depends on technology of the designs you plan on sending. Examples are: 
lines and spaces, via technology, required material, surface finish 
requirements, layer count. Building a PCB can be broken down into the 
following: printing and etching an image on cores, aligning and laminating 
the cores together, drilling and plating holes, image and etch the outer 
layers, and applying soldermask that doesn't open adjacent copper under my 
BGA's. Sounds simple, but there is a myriad of process and equipment in 
place to complete these high level tasks. This is where your list comes 
into play. Ours is significant and encompasses everything that needs to be 
looked at in every department. Again, This list was developed after 
numerous supplier audits and probably isn't something I can share on 
technet.

Auditing a PCB shop is a challenging task domestically where everyone 
speaks the same language. Auditing in Asia is much more time consuming due 
to the language barrier. Many people speak some level of English but your 
ability to communicate with operators should not be underestimated.  I 
would highly recommend you have someone on your team that speaks the 
language and can translate for you. You're going to waist a ton of time if 
you expect to be able to easily communicate without your own translator. 
Some shops are pretty good, other audits would be a complete waist of time 
without your own translator.

-Al Onderick




From:
Dave Schaefer <[log in to unmask]>
To:
[log in to unmask]
Date:
09/24/2009 09:41 AM
Subject:
Re: [TN] Abroad Printed Circuit Board supplier checklist
Sent by:
TechNet <[log in to unmask]>



Beyond the standard technical issues ....

Be sure any dealings you have are through a solvent business in a country
where litigation can be applied. Fabricators in countries who have no fear
of financial loss via litigation factor this into their business models. I
have seen losses in the millions of dollars caused by this scenario, even
with well known major foreign suppliers.
The cost of potential failure of your finished product at your customer
should also be a consideration ... for most companies, the risk of loss of 
1
major customer is not worth a few thousand dollars per year savings on 
bare
PCB costs.

Dave

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