Important Guidelines of Design for Manufacture and Assembly of PCBs – Part II

In the previous post, we discussed a few guidelines of Design for Manufacture and Assembly of printed circuit boards. In this installment of the post, we will discuss few more guidelines that will help you in designing and assembling your PCBs.

What are the Guidelines of Design for Manufacture and Assembly of PCBs?

There are a total of 10 guidelines that you need to understand and follow for a better manufacture and assembly of PCBs. We have already discussed the first five guidelines in the previous post. These are the remaining guidelines:

1. Consider Ease of Packaging: It is very important to consider the ease of packaging during PCB manufacture and assembly. Therefore, the product should be designed in such a way that it fits in the standard packaging cartons perfectly. These cartons are well-suited for automated packaging equipment. This helps facilitate shipment to the customers. This explains why you cannot afford to ignore the easy of packaging.
2. Use Components that Fulfill Several Functions: Making use of components that serve more than one function in a printed circuit board does have good cost benefits to the design. Here are a couple of examples, which explain the cost benefits:
   • Make use of an enclosure that also does the job of a heat sink in a PCB design. This would save considerable costs required for a design.
   • Make use of a standoff. It can act as a connection to earth ground. This is done by connecting PCB to the enclosure of the PCB via a connected mounting hole present on the printed circuit board.
3. Reduce Handling and Repositioning during PCB Population: Double-sided printed circuit boards have components on its both front, as well as the back side. When repositioning of these PCBs is required during the assembly process, it increases the overall time required for PCB population. The solution to this is installing surface mount components only on one side of the circuit board. Thus, only one reflow step will be required in the soldering portion of the assembly process. This also reduces the handling required in the assembly process, thus cutting down on assembly costs.
4. Make the PCBs Less Complex: As the PCB design gets more complex, the assembly costs go on increasing, while the yields get lower and lower. Using tighter tolerances and complex machining operations can deliver higher trims of PCB production. However, it has a negative impact on the assembly costs and production of PCBs. Therefore, it is always advisable to make printed circuit boards less complex.
5. Avoid Using Fasteners: Making use of fasteners for mounting components in the PCB assembly process can cost you more as compared to the press fit type mounting techniques. Reducing the use of fasteners can help cut down the additional costs. This can be done by making use of the surface mount version of Integrated Circuits (ICs) and including heat sinks in the circuit board design.

When you follow all the guidelines given in this post and the previous one, then no one can stop you from manufacturing and assembling a good, and error-free printed circuit board. Hope this post helps you in manufacturing your upcoming PCBs. If you would like to know more on the topic, there are always experts out there ready to help you. Creative Hi-Tech is one such expert who has an experience of over 18 years into manufacturing and assembling different PCB designs for various industries.