Top OEM PCB Manufacturer Proving R&D and Contract PCB Assembly

OEM means original equipment manufacturer.

OEM PCB manufacturers provide PCB contract manufacturing to electronic product terminal companies.

Electronic device terminal companies, from the multi-national giants to the small startups, own the brand of the electronic devices and market them. They purchase PCB/PCBA/final product assembly from B2B contract manufacturers.

Understanding OEM PCB manufacturers

An OEM PCB manufacturer is a B2B contract manufacturer and features:

• OEM PCB manufacturers have production lines specialized in PCB manufacturing, PCB assembly, and PCBA value-added.
• They prototype and manufacture the PCBs, assemble them to be PCBA, and further assemble them into final products according to their clients' requirements.
• They do not sell electronic products but supply them to terminal companies.
• OEM PCB manufacturers do not own the brand or intellectual property of the products.
• But they can do the R&D or take part in co-development with their clients.
• OEM PCB manufacturers do not manufacture components for PCB assembly but source them through their supply chains.
• They do not manufacture jigs and SMT stencils for PCB assembly and enclosures for box-build assembly. Instead, they send the requirements to the model manufacturers to purchase from them.

Who is the Top OEM PCB Manufacturer?

We rate the OEM PCB manufacturers according to the manufacturing quality, price, delivery time, and services.

The MCU is the core of any IoT system. It is a single chip or module designed to manage specific operations in embedded systems.

However, there's no the best OEM PCB manufacturer, as the most appropriate one is the best for you.

How do you know if an OEM PCB manufacturer is suitable for you?

First, you should know if you are the target client of the OEM PCB manufacturer.

Those top giant OEM PCB manufacturers taking up the most portions in the contract manufacturing market include:

• Zhen Ding Technology in Taiwan
• Unimicron Technology Corp. in Taiwan
• TTM Technologies Inc. in the US
• NOK Corporation in Japan

However, these multi-national OEM PCB manufacturers only work for massive and long-term production orders for large-scale companies, such as Apple, Sony, Dell, etc.

If you are a middle to small-scale terminal device company, solution company, business maker, or scientific research institute, you are PCBONLINE's target client!

We focus on contract PCBA manufacturing for innovative IoT devices, cell contact systems (CCS) for EVs and HEVs, solar energy systems, industrial control, COB (chip-on-board) LEDs, high-current devices, high-speed circuit devices, and flexible electronic devices.

We offer engineering support and R&D for your project, one-stop contract electronics manufacturing,  and comprehensive value-added services and testing to the PCBA, such as conformal coating, aging test, program burn-in, functional test, box-build assembly, and application simulation test.

Besides, you can order any quantity of PCBs from PCBONLINE. Rest assured of the quality consistency, as the prototype boards and batch orders are manufactured on the same production lines.

If you are from a large-scale company and need to produce your design from prototype to batch production, you can also work with PCBONLINE. We have world-class company clients that prototype and, after success, keep long-term and stable batch production cooperation with us.

What about if you are a hobbyist working on a DIY project? Then you don't need an OEM PCB manufacturer but a hobbyist PCB manufacturer that deals with standard PCBs. They offer very cheap PCB manufacturing because thousands of different one-layer PCBs are pooled together and produced and assembled on the same lines.

Some components can indeed be missed as the feeders on the SMD (surface-mount device) mounting machine can't carry all the components for so many PCB designs.

The hobbyist PCB manufacturer will send the PCBA and the miss-soldered components to you for your hand soldering. For DIY projects, it's okay because they don't require high precision and don't have to meet industry standards.

Does OEM PCB Manufacturers Provide Quality Guarantee?

Yes.

Typically, if it is a manufacturing quality issue, OEM PCB manufacturers rework with no additional costs from their clients.

However, the best result should be a 0 rework rate. It requires not only high-quality of contract manufacturing but also mutual communication and cooperation to ensure defect-less development and design of the project.

So, it would be better if your OEM PCB manufacturer has R&D capabilities and can solve technical issues for you.

Besides, DFM (design for manufacturing) is necessary for any OEM PCB project.

Before and during the PCBA prototype, the OEM PCB manufacturer will check your Gerber and BOM and manufacture the PCBA sample.

From the OEM PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE, our DFM includes not only Gerber and BOM checks but more:

• Can optimize your design from the perspective of an optimum PCB design and ensure seamless production,
• Design jigs that ensure the smooth PCB SMT and PTH assembly,
• Can select alternative components to replace the expensive ones to reduce your project cost (if you want),
• Manufacturing process and testing designs,
• During prototyping and sampling, there may be unexpected issues. Based on rich experience, PCBONLINE can solve them.

DFM is free from PCBONLINE. With the engineering support and DFM, your OEM PCB project can yield successful results.

PCBONLINE will have the functional test to ensure the PCBA prototype/sample works properly. However, for devices whose function result should be tested in the laboratory, you will need to test it in your local laboratory to ensure that the result meets the standard in your country.

For example, a false eyelash UV disinfection box, though it is a commercial electronic device, should achieve a certain level of killing bacteria effect that is regulated by the medical department. Its disinfection test can only be done in a biological laboratory.

But no worries, we will give you the laboratory test procedures so that your local laboratory can follow them.

We will adjust your design to improve it until the sample yields satisfying results. So you don't need to worry about quality issues by working with the OEM PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE.

How to Protect Your Intellectual Property from OEM PCB Manufacturers?

Intellectual property (IP) security is possibly a concern before you place an order from an OEM PCB manufacturer.

If you develop the project, how to protect your IP and keep your confidential information from the OEM PCB manufacturer?

First, you only need to send the necessary documents for contract PCB manufacturing. Gerber and BOM (bill of materials) are necessary for PCB production and assembly. Gerber contains only the graphics files telling the OEM PCB manufacturer the requirements of the PCB you want. BOM contains only the information for component sourcing and PCB assembly. Without accessing the original design and schematics, the OEM PCB manufacturer won't learn anything from your product.

Second, signing an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) places a legal obligation on the OEM PCB manufacturer to keep your product and order confidential. You can send your NDA to PCBONLINE to sign, which is what we'd love to do.

Third, you can split your product design into several modules to different OEM PCB manufacturers and ask an assembly contract manufacturer to assemble them into a whole. That's what Apple does. Its iPhones are manufactured by many large-scale OEM PCB manufacturers, including the giants mentioned above, and then Foxconn assembles the modules into a final product.

For middle and small-scale terminal companies and solutions, you can work with PCBONLINE under one roof to save your time and energy while having no IP security worries.

Apart from not accessing your original design and schematics and signing an NFA, PCBONLINE further protects your confidentiality in program burn-in.

Program burn-in, or IC programming, is a process of transferring the program into the IC. It can be done before or after PCB assembly. However, it's better to be conducted by the OEM PCB manufacturer because the PCBA has to go through many other processes after this small step.

Typically, you will send the program to the OEM PCB manufacturer to transfer it into the ICs.

To protect your confidentiality, PCBONLINE provides the cloud method for program burn-in without accessing your program anymore. The process is:

We apply a temporary Aliyun cloud account for you, and only you have access to it. You upload the program into the cloud and control the permissions of IC programming, and we transfer the program into the IC directly without accessing it. After IC programming, you can delete the program from the cloud, and we deregister the account.

OEM PCB Manufacturer Providing R&D and One-stop Manufacturing

PCBONLINE is an OEM PCB manufacturer providing turnkey contract PCB manufacturing, including R&D and final product assembly. Founded in 1999, PCBONLINE has two large advanced PCB manufacturing bases, one PCB assembly factory, stable supply chains, and an R&D team.

PCBONLINE is a source factory manufacturer for IoT PCBA and final products, having two large advanced PCB manufacturing bases, one PCB assembly factory, strategic cooperation with the above-mentioned MCU companies, and an R&D team.

Whether you are a small to middle-scale terminal company, solution company, business maker, or research institute, you can have your PCB project manufactured into real devices from PCBONLINE. PCBONLINE has no PCB quantity requirements and offers one-on-one engineering support throughout your project. To get a quote for your PCB project, email info@pcbonline.com.

Conclusion

OEM PCB manufacturers provide contract PCB manufacturing to bring the design into reality. This blog about OEM PCB manufacturers answers the frequently asked questions about prototyping, DFM, how to select a suitable PCB manufacturer, IP protection, and what services you can receive from working with PCBONLINE. If you are a terminal device company, solution company, business maker, or research institute, work with the OEM PCB manufacturer PCBONLINE.