Prototype vs. production outsourcing: what to look for may vary by geography. Tips on what, and who, to audit.Ed.: For the complete article, please visit circuitsassembly.com/cms/content/view/3913. When it comes to outsourcing (1) Contracting with outside consultants, software houses or service bureaus to perform systems analysis, programming and datacenter operations. Contrast with insourcing. See netsourcing, ASP, SSP and facilities management. PCBs, OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) The rebranding of equipment and selling it. The term initially referred to the company that made the products (the "original" manufacturer), but eventually became widely used to refer to the organization that buys the products and procurement The fancy word for "purchasing." The procurement department within an organization manages all the major purchases. staff must fully understand the differences and nuances associated with prototype and production manufacturing, regardless of where those services are situated. Procurement from overseas sources has additional criteria to those standard for domestic procurement. However, requirements for high quality, tight delivery schedules, local EMS representation, up-to-date technology, modern equipment and well-trained personnel are common threads to procurement personnel across all regions and EMS tiers. Prototype and production procurement should be kept separate because they are different (Table 1). A prototype engineer focuses on quick delivery to achieve time-to-market. Designers want proof-of-concept upfront to determine how a product performs. It is okay if the product operates at, say, 50 to 75%, and designers are not overly concerned if some of the product's features fail to work the first time. Prototype shops differ in several respects from production shops. One area is turnaround time (1) In batch processing, the time it takes to receive finished reports after submission of documents or files for processing. In an online environment, turnaround time is the same as response time. . Standard turn, also known as extended turnaround time, refers to the period between order entry and finished prototype, and differs among suppliers. "Standard" turn could run from one to three weeks. This should be contemplated thoroughly, as an OEM could incur extra costs and miss market opportunities if an expected three-week delivery stretches to six to eight weeks. Prototype line traits. A prototype line must be flexible in terms of accepting boards of different sizes and complexity levels. Prototyping for both PCB PCB: see polychlorinated biphenyl. PCB in full polychlorinated biphenyl Any of a class of highly stable organic compounds prepared by the reaction of chlorine with biphenyl, a two-ring compound. fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. and assembly is, in effect, R & D since the product is not yet mature. Prototyping is characterized char·ac·ter·ize tr.v. character·ized, character·iz·ing, character·iz·es 1. To describe the qualities or peculiarities of: characterized the warden as ruthless. 2. by a number of design changes involving specifications, features and countless product aspects. For instance, a reprogrammable FPGA's power and ground pin-outs may change to comply with different power and voltage requirements on a PCB. Or strip planes between analog and digital sections may need to be changed, depending on the impedance impedance, in electricity, measure in ohms of the degree to which an electric circuit resists the flow of electric current when a voltage is impressed across its terminals. control requirements on the board. By nature a prototype incurs constant change, up to and including the day it gets shipped. Zulki Khan khan Historically, the ruler or monarch of a Mongol tribe. Early on a distinction was made between the title of khan and that of khakan, or “great khan.” Later the term khan was adopted by the Seljuq and Khwarezm-Shah dynasties as a title for the highest is founder and president of Nexlogic Technologies Inc. (nexlogic.com); zk@nexlogic.com.
Table 1. Characteristics of Prototype and Production Lines
Prototype Line Traits Production Line Traits
Flexibility Emphasis on testing
Easy-to-use GUI Necessary fixtures and tooling
Quick changeover Quality control steps embedded in process
capabilities
High technology level, Longer changeover and programming time
including fine-pitch
component capability
Trained staff Separate SMT line with few maintenance
requirements
Necessary equipment Proper capacity levels for low volume, but high
mix
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