Thank for the input. But I guess I was looking for more. We have been transferring boards for some time and a have good working relationship with our primary CEM and have worked out many bugs. I was thinking more on the order and don't shoot me but I know that someday I'll have to move boards to a CEM that we have never done business. When that day comes I won't have any notice or warning. So I really was thinking more on the order of some type of process caapbility test that was fast and generic enough that I could spend a day running test and then know that I could process boards there. Also I have been thinking that I would supply all the process support documentation such as profiles, aperature openings that we have had success with placement programs. Anything that will help me get off the starting line quickly and have the boards that best they can be right out of the box. Because if I can provide that service what value does my group add to the equation. So as contract manufacturing folks is there any value add in this kind of stuff. | | | | | | Best Regards | | | | | | CP | | | | | CP: You're correct. As part of your ISO 9000 quality program (Section 6), you should have a structured method for assessing suppliers. Check this link. Good luck. Dave F | | Hey Justin...that's nothing like advertising is it..???(hehehe) | | Corey, | | I'm working in an NPI & Process group at CEM in Scotland (Solectron - plug plug plug.....) | anyway's I have to say it would be heaven if someone came along and said..I want you to build this and here's all the info I have it would be like I've died and gone to heaven..
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You too huh John? I've wished the same thing a bunch of times! But unfortunately in the "real world" that doesn't happen near as often as I would like.
Unless the customer is some big OEM, their staff is usually pretty darn lean. They won't have a document control staff with nice, orderly documents, or a materials manager that keeps everything in check. It's usually just a handfull of people that designs the product, types up a B.O.M, buys the parts, and then hands it all off to poor suckers like us.
Unless those few people really got their act together, this is what I usually wind-up with.
But I look at things in another way besides just assembling the product for them, I look at part of what they're paying for is for our expertise to help them get their "ducks in a row" so to speak, so that they can have clean documentation, a good product structure with revision control and whatnot...
Now there's also those customers out there that don't want you to tell them what to do, "just build the boards dammit!" and it's those kind of customers that I could care less if we ever build anything for them. They can take their stuff to some sweatshop down the street (there's a LOT of those in "silly-con" valley too!) and let them slap it together...I don't need the bother.
I digressed some, getting back to Cory's question, I think Justin really said it, you've got to build relationships, and you do that by going in a place and "sniffing around" so to speak.
Look at the condition of the equipment, is it clean? Are there PM logs that's up to date and "not pencil whipped?" Just take a notice of the things around you. How does the production floor look? Is it all cluttered? Or is everything in it's place? Are there racks of partially completed assemblies on shelves with dust on them? Does any of the product on the floor that's in WIP look as complex as what you want them to build? Do they have a army of touch-up operators fixing defects or hand soldering parts that require hand soldering. These are the little clues that will tell you more about how the place operates than any pre-arranged survey can ever tell you.
There could be some good reasons for all of that stuff, but much of the time it's because somebody has dropped the ball somewhere in the chain, but then this is where you start asking questions. If you don't get the answers you like, the question if you want your stuff built there is then answered.
The problem I have with surveys, is that it's a "dog and pony" show. Anybody can put on a good show when they've been given a notice that you're coming...and as soon as the show is over, it's back to business as usual, and normally that isn't something that you'd really like to see.
I'm not saying that there aren't companies out there that do things exactly "by the book", and don't deviate one bit from it. But contract assembly is a very, very competitive business...can actually be pretty cut-throat. Doing things in a very regimented controlled manner costs money, because you have to the staff and support for it, and that's going to be reflected in the qoute that is provided to the OEM...everything costs money.
Then management will determine who's gonna build your boards for you, because it all comes down to money. That's just one of the reasons we can buy 'pooters for less than $700 nowdays...
But just to reiterate what Justin said, get to know the "Justins, the Steve's, the Dave's, or the John's" of where you may be getting your boards built, get a relationship going with them.
Don't say you're gonna come over and give them a test, because they'll be ready for that...I'd be pretty stupid not to be ready if you called me, unless I didn't want your business, and that's pretty dumb too...I mean at profit margins at 5% of sales, you need to take business where you can get it.
By the way, if you can make 5% you're doing WONDERFULLY! Most of the time it's less than that...just check Solectron's latest financial report to see what their margins were! It's a rough ol' world out there...
-Steve Gregory-
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