When beginning your startup company there are many things you need to consider. An important aspect is where to get my components? This can be a rather tricky decision for your product development. However, here are some tips to help your hardware startup get from a prototype to manufacturing.
Component Distributors for Electronics
Digikey, Mouser, and other retail channels are good for sourcing parts in low volume, however, the downside to that, is some of the parts they provide may not be the same quality as mainstream supply-chains. Major issues will occur during the manufacturing stage due to the bill of material, the lead time, and component quality.
Let’s talk about the bigger picture. Throughout your product development, whether this be at your POC (proof of concept) stage or your EVT (electrical validation testing) stage, your product is going to need an integrated supply-chain. Your startup cannot rely on a 3rd party unreliable service (when you get to mass production). So you need to integrate. On the other hand, sourcing online parts is not always a bad idea. Especially when you’re validating your ideas and developing your product.
Key Advice
There are several key factors that need to be considered when selecting parts:
– The balance between cost and performance, the better the balance is, the more cost efficient your BOM (bill of materials) will be.
– Lead time: DigiKey sells inventory, but in scale production. Most of the parts produced are on order, and there is a lead time attached.
– The off-the-shelf purchase experience from DigiKey causes the illusion that parts are shipped upon ordering. In reality, lead time control is one of the biggest challenges in supply-chain management.
– BOM cost: The price on Digikey is different from the original supplier’s. The problem is that there is no fixed ratio between the two; making it difficult to predict what the final cost is for mass manufacturing.
– Backup/replacements: It’s always safer to have multiple pin-to-pin replacement options for a specific component so that when one component has a supply problem, you can switch to another supplier without design changes.
It will be helpful to set up a relationship with a design partner, or contract manufacturer in Asia during the early stages of your structural design so that these partners can evaluate the cost, lead time, and replacement options. You may have already thought of these issues, and solved them, however, if you’re in the early days of your start-up these are some problems you will want to keep in mind.
Written by: Frederick Bravey
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