cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place

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Is there a cost analysis? How can a small business (4 emplo... - Aug 04, 2006 by Phil

Hi Phil, It all depends on your product. You say small l... - Aug 04, 2006 by

apples to apples. 20 boards 80 parts top and 10 parts botto... - Aug 04, 2006 by Phil

Two reasons company B is asking $40 instead of $15-$20; ... - Aug 04, 2006 by

Also company B may have far higher overheads to support - sa... - Aug 07, 2006 by Rob

Phil

#43190

cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place | 4 August, 2006

Is there a cost analysis? How can a small business (4 employees) compare small lot sizes with companies who have auto insert. machines?

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Chunks

#43191

cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place | 4 August, 2006

Hi Phil,

It all depends on your product. You say small lot sizes, but are your board 20 by 20 inches in size with 5K parts both top and bottom? If so then even building 3 of these could take you days to build. Then take you weeks to trouble shoot and discover all your quality mistakes.

Then again, if yuor are building 10 boards that are one inch sqaure with 6 total parts, then Auto Insertion is probably not the way to go.

Also, the actual cost of pick and place equipment is so broad, that it too becomes a fatcor in the equation. Sorry for not directly answering your question, but I think you get the general idea.

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Phil

#43192

cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place | 4 August, 2006

apples to apples. 20 boards 80 parts top and 10 parts bottom. these boards are done on a semi regular basis (you know the boards are coming to you from an OEM at least three times a month, just no exact schedule). All that is required is pasting..mounting parts..reflow...rework...visual inspection...pack/ship.

My cost Company A using stencil...manual pick and place...benchtop reflow oven...solder guns/hot air for rework to make the idea easy, lets call it $50 bucks/board Company B auto insertion 40 bucks

Company A is making a profit...how can this be? I would have thought Company B would be leaning towards $15-20/board

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Chunks

#43194

cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place | 4 August, 2006

Two reasons company B is asking $40 instead of $15-$20;

1. The set-up of their placement equipment takes time, thus the extra labor. Parts may be hard to get or what they norm keep in stock, plus storage of parts.

2. They know they can get away with asking $40 since it's $10 cheaper than Company A.

I would think #2 is closer to reality. They may have said $60 bucks originally and the customer said "No way, I know someone who can do it for $50!".... so they said "OK, how about $40 bucks and we'll struggle to make your board becasue we value as a customer."

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Rob

#43207

cost analysis: Manual vs. Auto insertion pick and place | 7 August, 2006

Also company B may have far higher overheads to support - sales guys, directors, accountants etc.

They may also be set up for longer runs so as Ms Chunks previously mentions, the set up & teardowns would also incur the opportunity cost of not being able to build more profitable business at the same time.

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