10 Tips for Purchasing PCBS: the Universal Truth is, Don't Overdo It! (PCB Procurement‪)‬

WANTTHE MOST bang for your buck on PCB purchases? Four industry veterans with backgrounds in PCB materials, chemistry, fabrication and assembly provided their expert advice, often echoing each other's recommendations. If you want to maximize PCB quality, price, performance, delivery or overall value, try following some of these insiders' tips: Get a first-article inspection. Testing a preproduction sample is essential to determining if the fabricator can meet your quality requirements. As Mike Carano, global manager of strategic business development at OMG Chemicals, explains, "I see many fabricators fail badly when making a new part number. Not because the company is not of high quality, but because they actually lack experience with the design and material sets in question." He suggests asking the fabricator to build test coupons to measure registration, via formation and PTH reliability.