electronics manufacturing Archives - Page 6 of 13

Avoid These Common Mistakes When Choosing a Contract Manufacturer

April 26, 2019 By meiadmin

For many people, selecting a contract manufacturer is a complicated process. From geographic location, to services offered, there are so many things to consider. Even though you might be tempted to go with your first choice, it’s important to learn all you can before selecting a contract manufacturer to work with. The time and effort spent now is sure to pay off in the future.

Through years of experience, we’ve identified the most common mistakes people make when choosing a contract manufacturer to work with. Unfortunately, mistakes related to price, time, experience, and quality often cause more harm than good.

Price

It’s a common belief that cheaper is better. While this might be true for some things, it isn’t true for electronic components. Cheap components can lead to the creation of poor quality products. This can impact the reputation and credibility of your brand.

When choosing a contract manufacturer to work with, it’s important to remember that several issues can affect the price of your product including changes you make to the design. If materials, finishes, or processes change, so will your price.

Time

It takes time to develop high quality products. While working with an experienced contract manufacturer can help reduce the time it takes to go to market, they aren’t miracle workers. Be reasonable with your production timeline expectations.

Experience

It’s easy to find a contract manufacturer that can promise to create the product you desire in the timeframe you need. Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to find one that can actually deliver what they promise. This is why it’s so important to work with an experienced contract manufacturer.

An experienced contract manufacturer knows how long it will take to create your project. They can provide you with realistic timelines. They also have the people, skills, and technology in place to complete the work. If they can’t do what you request, they can usually direct you to someone who can.

Quality

Forgoing quality for speed is never a good idea. While high quality products might take a little longer and cost a little more to produce, you can rest assured that you’ve done all you can to ensure the quality of your products. This improves consumer trust and increases the chance of repeat sales and referrals.

How Different Industries Use Contract Manufacturers

April 5, 2019 By meiadmin

Businesses across a wide range of industries use contract manufacturers to design, build, and test a number of products. Below, we’ll explore how the top industries use contract manufacturing services.

Electronics Industry

Major electronics companies use contract manufacturers to produce the parts and components needed to create their products. While products produced by industry giants such as Apple and Microsoft are often assembled in China, the parts used to make these products come from all over the world. This is true for many electronics companies. Often, these companies seek out the help of experienced contract manufacturers to produce one or several parts for their device.

Automotive

50% of all car manufacturing is done off-site by contract manufacturers. Car manufacturers outsource the production of basic components such as tubing, dashboard parts, and external electronics including radios, security systems, and parking assistance devices. These companies also outsource the manufacture of suspension components, gearboxes, and electronics.

Although, car manufacturers have never outsourced the entire manufacture of a vehicle, many CMs create different cars under different brands or labels.

Robotics

The robotics industry is growing at an alarming rate. In fact, it’s growing so fast that robotics companies find it difficult to keep up. These companies often outsource the production of parts and components to contract manufacturers.

Pharmaceuticals

Contract manufacturers produce raw chemicals for the pharmaceutical industry. While this is different than producing parts or components, it’s still extremely important to the creation of a number of pharmaceutical products.

Medical

The medical industry relies on contract manufacturers to produce components for a wide range of medical devices. The devices created by the medical industry are often crucial to the health, safety, and well-being of humans. As such, they must meet extremely strict regulatory requirements. Companies in the medical industry must take care to work with contract manufacturers that understand the strict requirements of this industry.

Looking for a Qualified Contract Manufacturer?

Means Engineering, Inc. offers contract manufacturing services to businesses both large and small. Our capabilities include design, production, and testing of products. Please contact us for more information about our services.

Top Myths About Working With a Contract Manufacturer

March 29, 2019 By meiadmin

The right contract manufacturer can help your business grow and expand into new markets. A CM acts as your partner, providing a number of services designed to compliment your business and improve customer satisfaction with your brand. Unfortunately, many people go into this partnership with unrealistic expectations. This is due in part to the large number of myths about working with a contract manufacturer. We have listed the top three myths and why you shouldn’t believe what you hear. This is important if you want a successful relationship with your CM.

Always Go With the Lowest Quote

While you might think that selecting the contract manufacturer with the lowest cost per unit is the obvious choice, this isn’t always the case. It’s important to find a contract manufacturer that provides consistent, quality results. They should employ a team of professionals able to create a wide range of products for a variety of industries. This is important if you wish to expand into new markets in the future.

It’s also important to note that the price per unit only captures about 70-80% of the cost of production. Several CMs will add various fees and charges to the final number. Select a contract manufacturer that is up front about the total cost of production. This can save you a considerable amount of trouble later.

Never Work With a Contract Manufacturer That Builds for Your Competition

It’s important that OEMs find the most capable and compatible contract manufacturer to work with. Often times, this will be the same CM their competition uses.

R&D Can Handle Production

Managing manufacturing and the supply chain requires the skill and experience of professionals. Although companies often try to include manufacturing under development, this usually doesn’t pan out well. Companies that attempt to handle everything in-house without the management tools and experience needed rarely succeed.

Means Engineering provides contract manufacturing services for businesses both large and small. Our services include design, production, and testing of a wide range of products. We employ a team of skilled professionals, each experts in their field. Please contact us if you would like more information about our services.

Is it Time for Your Business to Use a Contract Manufacturer?

March 22, 2019 By meiadmin

Every business owner has the dream of creating the perfect product. However, making this dream a reality is often much harder than believed. Taking an idea from prototype to production can take years of expensive trial and error for companies that attempt to handle the manufacturing themselves.

Sometimes companies find they simply do not have the people or resources needed to keep up with demand. This is especially true for organizations responsible for the creation of electronic parts and components.

For most businesses, giving up simply isn’t an option. These businesses can benefit significantly from enlisting the help of a qualified contract manufacturer.

Experienced contract manufacturers have the tools, equipment, and knowledge needed to create high quality products. These companies often have years of experience and employ industry experts, each prepared to provide their assistance if the project requires. Contract manufacturers take extra care to ensure products are completed to exact specifications and requirements. When involved in the design process, they can even suggest ways to reduce costs and increase the quality of the finished project.

There are a few things you’ll need to consider before seeking the help of a contract manufacturer:

Will People Buy Your Product?

Perform market research or ask people through social media whether they would be interested in your product. This can help ensure you create something consumers actually want. Consider asking your contract manufacturer what they think of your product. Accept their suggestions for adding or removing features to improve the functionality of your product. Remember, these are industry experts with years of experience.

Design Improvements

Even if you’re absolutely sure your audience will want your product, it’s always a good idea to have your contract manufacturer look over your design plans. As mentioned before, an experienced contract manufacturer will know how to make improvements that could end up saving you a lot of time, money, and hassle in the future.

Choose a Partner Over a Provider

The right contract manufacturer will ensure a long-lasting relationship with their clients. This is mutually beneficial for both parties. Select a contract manufacturer that can help your business grow and expand over time.

Turning Ideas Into Functioning Products

February 1, 2019 By meiadmin

Companies today are under a lot of pressure to create high quality electronic products. Modern day consumers expect more features and options than ever before. In order to be successful, companies need to keep up with their competition. This means developing new products at an alarming rate.

It’s not enough to simply have good ideas. You need to be able to turn those ideas into functioning products. Unfortunately, many companies find this difficult.

Once they begin the development process they find themselves in an abyss of complicated regulations and manufacturing challenges. At this point, they probably need some help. Partnering with a qualified contract manufacturer can help these businesses turn their ideas into reality.

Electrical and Mechanical Design

If possible, it’s a good idea to enlist the help of a contract manufacturer during the design process. This helps locate areas of your design that could benefit from improvement. This can significantly reduce the cost of production and improve the quality of the finished product.

A contract manufacturer acts as your partner throughout the design process, providing you with knowledge backed by years of experience. This is perhaps the biggest benefit of working with a contract manufacturer.

Sometimes, small details get missed during the design process. These details could mean the difference between a functioning product and the need to start over. A contract manufacturer provides a second set of eyes for design plans, ensuring nothing gets missed.

Hardware Development

During hardware development, you move from simply talking about your product to creating the BOM, PCB layout, and mechanical parts. It’s important to fully test each component at this stage. This helps locate potential issues before you move into full scale production.

A contract manufacturer can help with testing of a wide range of parts and components.

Documentation

An often overlooked requirement, documentation is important for the maintenance of your design. Depending on the intended use of your finished product you might need a wide range of documentation including product manuals, start-up guides, and maintenance manuals. A contract manufacturer can help you determine the documents required for your specific product.

Procurement

It can be tempting to go with the cheapest option when procuring components. Unfortunately, many of these options are poor quality counterfeits. Using counterfeit components can negatively affect the quality of your finished product. It can also affect your compliance with industry regulations. It’s important to work with someone who understands the importance of using quality components.

Production

At this point, it’s a good idea to hand off your project to an experienced contract manufacturer. Means Engineering has years of experience working with a number of companies across a wide range of industries. We work directly with you throughout all parts of production to ensure high quality, reliable finished products.

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