Global Manufacturing Services, Inc.

Guess what? The cute little 8 year old girl in our neighborhood came up all wide eyed and excited and said “Scotty, scotty (her dad told her I am a Scot) “guest what” I just saw?” I looked at her and noted (1) she came from the vicinity of her uncle’s house and (2) that she was more excited than normal. Since I knew she is afraid of big animals, I said “You saw a rhinoceros on the roof of your uncle’s house.” She said, oh, don’t be silly.”

We make guesses or estimates every day, in many cases without even realizing that is what we are doing. Making an estimate to check reasonableness is a valuable tool, to save money and/or to keep one out of trouble. For example if you go into the cafe and order two hot dogs and a chocolate shake, and the waiter wants to charge you $14.73, I hope while you are waiting you have estimated what you are probably going to have to pay for this junk food. If you are like me, you have already made a “rough estimate” or guess of what to expect. What is a reasonable amount? The hot dogs are maybe $1.65 each or around $3.00 and change and the shake maybe $2.82 depending on size. Tax at 7% may run the bill up to somewhere between $5.00 and $7.00. So you quite rightly buck on the $14.73

Our electronic manufacturing services business, Global Manufacturing Sevices, requires us to constantly fine tune our estimating skills. We quote jobs using a very good set of spread sheets that aids us in the task. We go out to our suppliers to get parts cost. We count parts on the bill of materials (BOM) and try to get an idea (estimate) of how much labor it will take to assemble the circuit boards. We add our known overhead and come up with a figure, but then we run a reasonableness test to see if it makes sense. We compare our price with that of other similar circuit boards we have built. We ask our selves what we can reasonably charge if we filled up the factory with 100% of this product. No one technique gives us the final answer, but we usually come up with a pretty good estimate of what the cost should be.

I went for the rhinoceros ladder, but when I got to her uncle’s house down the street, a water buffalo had slid down the roof of the house and had fallen through the roof of the porch onto the deck below. Well, at least my guess was partly right. It was a large animal!

We are sometimes asked what type things can we do at our factory in West Jefferson, North Carolina.  I have briefly listed the primary items below.

RoHS, I.e. lead free assemblies with no up charge or leaded assemblies if that is required..

KanBan and order fulfillment for delivery to you for your just in time requirements.

Electromechanical assembly including light press work and light welding.

Full “box build” which works well when you would like us to put your finished goods on our shelf and then ship direct to your customer as you require.

Excellent MRP system to interface with your MRP system for low error rates.

Excellent, modern equipment with skilled operators to operate and manage assembly. We’re able to assemble very large SMT boards: 20 inches by 24 inches.

Great materials purchasing department to source components from around the globe.

Serious about ISO quality without the chaff and cost associated with lesser quality systems.

Employees with great work ethic, and always eager to get it right.

Reliable, honest customer service that makes the best look mediocre.

Fast quoting with your circuit board Gerbers and Bill of Materials.

Our low overhead assures you of competitive pricing.

I hope that you will soon let Global Manufacturing Services, Inc., GMSWW quote a project for you

As the recession recedes a bit, it is tempting to go out and hire a few extra workers to take care of a spat of orders.  But because this recession may go on for awhile, it likely makes more sense to contract out some of your electronic or electro-mechanical assembly work to companies like Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. in Western, North Carolina, and wait and see if the uptick is going to be sustainable.  We can quickly quote your work, set up the project in our fast turn factory all at a good price.   if you get repeat orders then we can continue to do the work or maybe then it will be time to call back or put on a few people.

There are some great manufacturing operations overseas and we have long used our partners for good prices, and quality.  But not all overseas manufacturers were created equally and many times small time users think going overseas is a must do, until they discover that only qualified products, quantities and pricing is appropriate for offshore sourcing.  Made in America has merit.

Historically, we have used our offshore partners and would still in select cases, but more and more we are hearing horror stories of rising prices, poor quality, longer and longer lead times and misplaced orders and other tales of woe.  We here at Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. have always specialized in fast turn, low or at least reasonable prices and good quality.  And we try very hard to make doing business with us painless, and profitable for our customers.

So if you are looking for 100s or 1000s of boards to be on your dock at a specified time at a good price and unmatched quality, then please give us a call at (336) 246-5143.  I promise you we will get on it in a flash!!!  

Once the design is on paper, a Bill of Materials must be created and the board laid out; which produces a set of Gerber files, from which the bare circuit board can be manufactured.  Now it is time to build a prototype to confirm the designer’s work and to check to see if the board is easily assembled.  More later.

A good blank circuit board is similar to a good foundation for a building. If a builder starts with a superb foundation, i.e. the foundation has been placed on solid or compacted earth, drainage around the foundation has been corrected if necessary, the corners are square, the whole foundation is exactly level and horizontal and the plumbing connections in the foundation are where they should be; a competent builder will have little trouble building a structure that will perform well from the day the tenant moves in and for years thereafter.

On the other hand if the builder attempts to build a quality building on a shoddy foundation, no matter how good the materials and how good his skills, it will be virtually impossible to build a quality building that will perform up to the expectations of the tenant, nor will the structure stand up to the ravages of time.

The same is true with circuit board assembly. If we start with a superb blank circuit board, i.e. the board has been made with top quality copper clad material, processed in a board house that keeps its chemical processes in control, washed with DI water, masked carefully and cured appropriately, solder leveling applied carefully and finally tested to be certain that the board has no flaws. Then we will have little trouble building a quality product.

If the blank board has been etched so that there are ‘cat whiskers’ (tiny hair thin traces that did not get removed in the chemical etching process), shorts will result. Or worse, intermittent open traces, result from poor process control. Another hazard is poor solder leveling, which makes it difficult to place fine pitch parts without component leads not soldering properly. If the mask is poor, solder bridging can occur.

Any one of these things makes it necessary to touch up the board when it is discovered that the circuit does not function correctly when it is tested. Further rework, even if the board can be made to function, causes the board to be cosmetically inferior.

Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. after many years experience has narrowed the sources from which we purchase circuit boards to a few suppliers. These suppliers have consistent quality and delivery. Because we do a lot of business with them, we get favorable pricing.

Due to our attention to the basic building block of circuit board assembly, we can deliver a product of consistent quality.

Can there be any question that LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting and signage is the wave of the future? LED lighting requires so much less power for equivalent light output. If we intend to get off foreign oil, then LED technology must figure in the mix for general lighting and signage. There has been a constant expansion of LED technology and uses so that now we see their use most notably in traffic signals, automotive brake and tail light lamps, general signage and a myriad of other applications.

Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. has extensive experience assembling SMT (Surface Mount Technology) LED circuit boards for a variety of applications. We assemble completely RoHs compliant circuits for lead free applications. Most SMT LEDs are moisture sensitive devices and require careful handling and process control to avoid damaging the delicate devices. We understand the handling and process requirements for quality assembled products. So if you need any quantity from a few prototypes to full scale high volume production; please contact us at (336) 246 5143 for a fast quote of your project

The electronics contract manufacturing business is a tough business.  The skill level must be extraordinarily high, the environmental codes stringent, the equipment and machinery required to assemble today’s complex circuits costs big dollars and to beat all; the profit margins by nearly any measure are low.

It is almost as challenging as the grocery store business, where every day they sweat the low margins, while trying to keep those tomatoes from rotting long enough for us to take them home and make them into a tasty salad.

Having said this, most of us who ply the trade, love the challenge of electronics manufacturing and we love the great OEM customers who would have us assemble their product.  Most customers are experienced in the manufacturing business and they understand what we are up against  and for the most part cut us some slack, when, inspite of our best efforts; we do something really dumb.

So the next time you open up that cell phone, computer or any other complex electronic device and you see those tiny little parts some of which are not much bigger than a mustard seed, and others that have so many legs that they look like a mutated “thousand leg worm”, remember that some one (or some machine) some where struggled mightily to get them all right so you can receive a text message from half way around the world or talk to your momma in Cincinnati.

Could be that Global Manufacturing Services in North Carolina assembled one of those devices.

I think all will agree that Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) is a worth while endeavor even though it makes electronics manufacturing more difficult.  The difficulty arises due to (1.)  higher reflow temperatures which causes greater energy usage in the reflow oven (2.) the higher temperatures also cause greater energy usage due to additional cooling in the factory.  This may not be a big added expense depending on how well the oven is insulated.  (3.) the higher temperatures also causes potential problems due to moisture trapped inside intergrated circuit packages.   This results in added expense for drying the moisture sensitive devices before reflow.  (4.)  potential for getting RoHS components mixed with non RoHS or leaded components. (5.)  sourcing of RoHS components not always available and frequently they cost more than leaded components. (6.)  Not everyone wants RoHS assembly so we have to keep redundant lines open for RoHS and non RoHS assembly.  These are but a few of the things which add to the expense and difficulty of using RoHS in the manufacturing environment.

At Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. we can deliver RoHS or non RoHS assemblies and are glad we can accomodate the will and needs of all our customers.  However, we will be glad when there is only RoHS so that we can dismantle the leaded line and concentrate only on RoHS.  A big advantage to us will be the realization that we can eliminate lead from our factory and hopefully make a safer environment for our employees and their families.    

Global Manufacturing Services, Inc. assembles many different printed circuit (PC) boards for a variety of customers. So as one might imagine we purchase a large number of bare printed circuit boards to satisfy our manufacturing needs. We purchase high quality PC boards from reliable domestic sources as well as off shore sources.

The bare printed circuit board used in the assembly of finished printed circuit board assemblies is by far the most important component in the successful assembly of a high quality end product. We liken it to the foundation of a house or commercial structure. If you start with a really high quality bare PC board then you can expect that the finished assembly will be high quality and work as specified. Whereas, if you start with a faulty bare PC board, then it is virtually impossible to assemble a successful, high quality, end product.
This is why we search the world over for the best PC boards at the best prices. Since we have been doing this for quite awhile, we have found some really good honest suppliers.

If you are an OEM and need a few or many circuit boards; let us quote your project and see if we can save you a significant amount of money.

I think you will be pleased with our bare PC boards.  Click on this Global Manufacturing Services link and contact us for a quick quote.  The quote will cost you nothing.