[sdiy] PCB assembly house board failure rates?

[Neil Johnson]

Justin Owen wrote:
> I'd be interested in what people would consider an 'average' or
> 'fair' failure rate as a percentage for boards assembled by a
> professional PCB house - based on their own experiences.

As you're talking about a relationship with a business, then it'll be 
whatever is written into the contract.

If you want just a PCB assembly house, basically a stuffing and 
soldering service, then it'll be entirely up to you to handle board 
testing, quality control, rework, etc.  You send them the components and 
PCBs (they might supply the components for you), and in return they send 
you stuffed boards.  The end.

A contract manufacturer, on the other hand, will more likely be 
contracted to manufacture your PCB for you, and you only pay for what 
they ship to you.  In that case you'll have to specify how to test the 
board so that, as per contract, they only ship you good boards (which 
you pay for), and their production people will work to make sure the 
yield is high (it's in their interest!).  The costs will be higher, but 
then you save on rework and you have in effect contracted out your QA. 
Downside is the contract will likely be filled with a lot more weasel 
words.  It is also where a really good PCB layout person can make a huge 
difference between a board that has high yield and one that's a turkey.

Neil
(...worked with world-class PCB layout engineers, and with manufacturers 
who build 10s of millions of high-density PCBs a month)
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