How to Avoid PCB Assembly Delays

Whether you require Prototype PCB Assembly or Mid-Volume Production, avoiding any delays to your order is crucial. Choosing a PCB Fabrication and Assembly partner who offers high quality, fast turnarounds, will ensure you receive your project as soon as possible. Bittele Electronics is committed to providing our clients with the efficient and timely PCB, PCBA and Turnkey solutions. As we strive to maintain our high-quality standards, there are a number of considerations that can directly help with the speed and efficiency of your order.

Once your order has been placed, one of the most important things to take note of is the name and email of the project coordinator assigned to your project. You will always be assigned the same project coordinator from your first order and all repeating orders and new projects after that. This person is responsible for answering update statuses regarding your project and also communicating the DFM questions to you, so it’s important that you are able to send and receive emails from them. Sometimes their emails may end up in your spam/junk folders, we recommend adding their E-mail to your contact list to help ensure that you can receive their messages in your inbox. Your response time to emails from your project coordinator can greatly reduce the chances of delays with your order. A common issue brought up during our detailed DFM Check is a missing Centroid Data. While this data is not necessary during the quoting stage, it will be required for assembly. Including this file with your RFQ is one simple step to avoid production delays. For cases where you may be going on vacation or have limited access to email, it would help to also have another person who may be able to reply in your stead copied to all email communication.

It is also important to note that your account manager (the person who was assigned to provide your quote) will still be able to assist you after your order is placed, but your most effective method would be to contact your project coordinator directly. An email link to track the status of your order is sent at the time the order is paid for and usually takes 1-2 days to become active.

In addition to DFM check emails, there may also be stock issue emails that are communicated by our purchasing team. Being diligent in answering those stock issues and coming up with suitable alternatives in a timely manner can also greatly reduce the chances of your order being delayed. It is important to answer these emails in a timely manner at all times.

In order to help eliminate potential problems ahead of time, Bittele Electronics has developed detailed DFM and DFA guides for our clients. A quick check of our PCB Fabrication Capabilities can also help to reduce and DFM questions one your order is placed. It would be wise to follow our DFM guide before placing your order. In the last link above, you can find the download links to our DFM and DFA guides, as well as a sample BOM and other useful examples that can help you ensure all your files are in check before your order is placed.