How To Calculate PCB Assembly Cost?

How to calculate PCB assembly cost, many electronic manufacturers will look for quotation from processing manufacturers before outsourcing the PCB assembly processing services. In fact, they will still have a lot of doubts about the final quotations, so we are going to conduct a comprehensive analysis about how to calculate PCB assembly cost.

Required Material Costs Before Assembly

According to the customer's BOM list, the purchasing department of the processing firm will make an inquiry, including PCB bare board, electronic parts, etc. Sometimes, PCB assembly costs and engineering costs will be included in purchasing quotation. It needs to cover about 5% of the material loss when purchasing the components, due to the reason of material loss, like resistance and capacitance disk loading material and SMT chip. For the small batch of PCBA, engineering costs are usually covered in quotation, including the costs of processing file, stencil, Changing SMT line etc.

Solder Joint Cost Counting

PCB assembly costs include SMT and DIP after welding, etc. which is accounted separately according to the specific of printed circuit board solder joints and the processing ways. Generally, a solder pad is counted as 1 point and solder joints of IC accounted by the number of feet. Above 1206 SMD precision of solder pad is counted in accordance with a solder pad to 2 points, except CD54 inductance counting to 12 points, other larger inductance counted as 24 points. In addition, plug spacing with 3.96 of one solder pad as 2 solder points. After counting all solder joints, its costs are counted among 0.008~0.03 CNY on the basis of solder joints.

We also need to count the PCBA test costs according to each PCBA board test time; In terms of packaging logistics, special packaging materials as well as the need to count the cost of three-proofing paint, in addition, according to customers transaction terms such as FOB, it needs extra counting of customs logistics costs.

PCB Assembly Cost Breakdown

1. PCB Board Size and Number Layers

The bigger the PCB board, the more the assembly cost would be.  So we need to better utilized the board the save money. And a higher number of cooper layers would also raise the PCB production cost, so complex PCB design would definitely require more layers assembilies which need more cost.

2. PCB Board and Component Material

If you are cooperating with electronic contract manufacturers like us, you can tell us if you agree on using alternate brands of PCB materials with similar traits, so that we can use the PCB materials in stock instead of buying the specific assembly materials. 

3. PCB Board Design Complexity

We always need to try our best to minimize the complexity of our PCB layout, because extra work on the PCB board would always raise the cost. So we need to fulfill our purpose and reduce the PCB layout complexity as possbile as we can. 

4. PCB Assembly Order Volume

Larger quantities result in lower PCB assembly costs due to encomies of scale. So we would prefer high volume of PCB order so that we can save our time on setting it up. Most companies would offer you a good discount if the PCB order volume is big enough. So if you need 10,000 PCB assemblies in one year, it's best to order them for one time instead of separate for mulitple times which would cost you more money. 

5. PCB Assembly Lead Time

Whenever you ask us what's the cost of the PCB assembly, the first question from us is what's your expected lead time. As we all know: Time is Gold. So a quicker turnaround time means the higher cost. Because the PCB manufacturer need to invest more resources to finish your work to meet your requirements. 

In order to facilitate customers to quickly calculate the cost, we launched the online pricing system, please feel free to calculate the PCB Assembly cost here. At the same time, we provide one-stop parts sourcing service what's a more convenient choice for our customers. Please feel free to contact us through svc@pcbastore.com or your sales rep in pcbastore.com.