Questions to ask when choosing a Contract Manufacturer or a Product Design firm:
Contract Manufacturing
- Are you willing to accept blanket orders without scheduled releases?
- Are you willing to work overtime to meet an unexpected demand for our product?
- Will you maintain product in safety stock to meet immediate customer demand?
- Will you accommodate small production runs?
- Will you guarantee material and workmanship?
- Is your production schedule flexible enough to accommodate an unexpected customer demand on short notice?
- Do you take an innovative approach to solving my problems?
- Are you ISO 9001-2015 certified?
- Do you have IPC certified trainers on staff?
- Are your electronics manufactured to IPC standards?
- Are regularly inspected by CSA, UL or other agencies?
- Do you use automated assembly equipment?
- How do you maintain process controls?
- Will you be building our product in your own facility?
Product Development
- Do you design for manufacturability (DFM) to minimize product cost?
- Do you have the experience designing electronics for our specific environment? That would include electrical noise as well as other harsh environmental conditions.
- Can you design projects to agency standards and assist us through the approval process?
- Do you have on staff design engineers to technically support our product?
- What products have you developed in our industry?