Although on average, 30-40 percent of Screaming Circuits’ customers eventually migrate to volume production, a larger portion of the overall customer base is transactional-based production. This means Screaming Circuits provides the majority of its customers with either standalone, or short-run PCB assembly services. Many in this portion are product development teams who need a reliable source for prototypes, or small-quantity printed circuit board production. However, increasing amounts of transactional-based customers are individuals within the do-it-yourself (DIY) market.

When electronics contract manufacturing is necessary to bring their invention or idea to life, some in the DIY market use a crowd-based fundraising website like KickStarter.com to fund the initial prototype and short-run production. With ScreamingCircuits.com, DIY inventors now have easy access to an online, one-stop source for printed circuit board fabrication, materials procurement, and complete prototype assembly.

A great example is the collaboration between John Staskevich and Kevin Holland which develops fun, unique and intuitive products called NTHSynth. When NTHSynth launched its first product – the NTH Music Synthesizer, it used Screaming Circuits for their prototypes and production electronics assembly units, while being funded by Kickstarter. After the funding goal on Kickstarter was met in March 2012, the product was shipped in July of the same year. “When I was new to purchasing electronics assembly, Screaming Circuits was the only assembly house I could find that published complete, explicit instructions for presenting a design for manufacture. They also have an informative blog that answered many of my printed circuit board (PCB) assembly questions and their instant online quoting is a valuable tool because it helps us to anticipate project costs at a very early stage in the design process. This made me very comfortable engaging them,” said electronics engineer/NTH Synth co-owner John Staskevich. To find more information on NTHSynth’s new products visit them at www.nthsynth.com.

The Screaming Circuits website is designed with a mix of services to accommodate a wide range of needs for users of transactional-based electronics assembly and production.  “For this market segment, our online ordering trends show about one-third of overall business is self-service turnkey, where the customer orders some or all parts during; one-third of the business is full turnkey, where Screaming Circuits handles all parts ordering; and one third of this portion use kitted parts-which are consigned by the customer. This shows a migration from the standard model of customer-supplied part kits to one instead where the electronics manufacturer handles procurement and purchasing of the necessary PCB components and parts for the customer.” said Duane Benson, Screaming Circuits’ Marketing Manager.

According to Duane, the collaborative approach between strategic alliances offers such a range of electronics assembly services in one easy to use online location to the customer, it has become a factor helping to drive this trend. Customers visiting the Screaming Circuits website can order their PCBs directly from Sunstone Circuits and source parts through Digi-Key as part of the prototype purchase. Or, if a customer would like to simply provide a bill of materials (BOM), Gerber files, centroid drawing, assembly drawing and PCB silkscreen, Screaming Circuits will order the necessary materials, based on the provided specifications. “As an electronics contract manufacturer, we want to provide the specific level of support that each individual customer requires. If a customer wants to order a quickturn simple PCB assembly prototype online, we can have it back to them in as little as 24 hours. If they need short-run production but have a more flexible deadline, we provide that service at a lower cost than quickturn services. If they have questions during the ordering process, we have people with answers. The goal is to meet whatever EMS outsourcing requirement they may have, whether they are an engineer at a Fortune 500 company, or an engineer who has a great idea and the funding to make it happen.” Duane added.

The printed circuit board assembly options found on ScreamingCircuits.com are just the start of how Screaming Circuits accommodates each customer.  Although customers can quote and order a range of PCB assembly services entirely online, it can also be done over the phone with the assistance of a customer service rep. Furthermore, Screaming Circuits’ engineering team is standing by to make design for manufacturability or testability recommendations from their broad base of talent and experience, as well. If a customer needs to migrate from transactional production into larger volume production, parent company MEC’s three production facilities have the capacity to support that type of increased order quantity.

“While our corporate users value the speed, expertise and flexibility Screaming Circuits can offer, our DIY users appreciate most the instant access to significant engineering and sourcing bench strength, while and only pay for the time needed to build their prototypes. We like the fact that we are keeping North American manufacturing competitive and contributing to the resurgence of the hardware startup. It is a win-win for all parties,” Duane said.

NTH Electronics Contract Manufacturing Assembly PCB EMS Outsourcing

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