OPTIMUM

EMS HANDBOOK
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Pricing Matrix . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Step 1: Early Process Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Step 2: Design Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Step 3: Open Book Cost Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Step 4: Lean Front Office Processing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Step 5: Manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Yes, were different.
At Optimum, we talk openly about price and recognize how vital

it is to you. Second, we deeply respect the risk you take when

selecting outsourcing partners.

In this handbook we provide a detailed explanation of how we

approach PCB assembly so you can decide if we might be right

for you.

We are low cost.

How can a domestic contract manufacturer in Silicon Valley

compete with Mexico and China on price? Competitors are
watching, so youll have to call us for that one, youll like what
you hear. But...

We are not everything to everyone.

We are a focused factory very good at volume SMT production

and related system integrations. We have the very same
capabilities as the biggest EMS companies (we used to work for
them), the difference is we have the freedom to innovate new
ways of driving down your costs.

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Speaking of prices,
here they are...
We know price is vital to you, so here you go. The non-Optimum

prices are tabulated from objective 3rd party data sources.

Ou r a p p ro ac h i s ver y di ff erent from w hat ot her

E M S comp ani es are doi ng .

It isnt theory, and its not sexy or showy. Mostly its just hard work. It does
require experience, expertise, and intelligence. But history has shown its
successful at reducing cost and improving quality time and time again. So we
just do it, every day.

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Step 1: Early process preparation.
Early - as in before we do anything else.

Applying lean principles to the early stages of a project is one

of the factors most responsible for our phenomenal quality

performance. When you request a quote from EMS companies

their objective is to figure out a price (we know, weve worked at

all the big EMS companies). At Optimum, we dont just quote,

we begin the process of preparing to build. More fully detailed in

the pages that follow, by the time you receive a quote from us we

have cross-checked hundreds of elements of each component.

You need to...

...perform a BOM scrub

...know about ECNs & PCNs

...know if youre single sourced

...know if your supplier has on-hand inventory

...confirm your package types

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You need to perform a BOM scrub.

A BOM scrub verifies that your manufacturer/manufacturer part number

combinations are valid. This should always be your very first step. Enormous
amounts of time are wasted when this isnt done, and without it your ability
to take advantage of downstream automation tools is greatly restricted. We
prefer SiliconExpert for this. We have partnered with them for years, and
through a special arrangement we contract directly with SiliconExperts
component engineering team to conduct most of our BOM scrubs, which
they do for us overnight.

You need to know about ECNs & PCNs.

We dont wait to hear back from suppliers that one of your parts is obsolete.
We collect the life cycle status of each individual component,
but heres what a summary chart of your lifecycle data would look like:

Lifecycle Summary Report

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You need to know if youre single sourced.

The percentage of your BOM that has multiple sources is a good barometer
of overall risk. We provide you with line by line detail, but heres what a
summary chart of your multi-source postion would look like:

Multi-Source Summary

Sometimes, you need alternatives.

When you do, wouldnt it be nice to have comprehensive report of alternates,

including any differences and the predicted life of the alternate? And how
about a link to the datasheeet? Viola!

Cross Reference Detail Report

(source: SiliconExpert)

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You need to know if your supplier has
on hand inventory.

This is often one of the most vexing problems for small lot builds. Your
supplier presents you with costs related to min/mults, but you think they
should have the parts on hand from prior builds. Our systems automatcially
checks each AVLd manufacturer part number for 3 types of on hand
inventory: on hand under your internal part number, on hand consigned
inventory for you, and on hand unallocated inventory under another
customers internal part number. These checks are performed automatically
by our custom designed cost analysis software.

Descriptions are unreliable, your

package types need to be confirmed.

Package types are critical to understanding labor costs and workmanship

standards, and capability requirements. We pull the package types
automatically from two databases (SiliconExpert and Mentor Graphics VPL)
which each reference over 3 million parts. Our software recognizes 300+
package types and further categorizes them into 12 types for labor analysis.

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Step 2: Design Review

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is a broad term with a range of

meanings. We refer to design reviews as Design for Fabrication
(DFF), and Design for Assembly (DFA). DFF is a tool set used to
review the design of the PCB prior to fabrication. Here well
review DFA, which looks for problems that may cause rejects or
other quality issues during assembly. Often associated with NPI,
we run DFA on all products new to our manufacturing floor, and
after any significant ECOs.

We use Valor.

Mentor Graphics Valor software is a suite of products for manufacturing.

One of the modules runs a series of checks against a set of rules specifically
configured for the target manufacturing floor. Called the Design Rules Check
file (.drc), there are hundreds of test performed on every component and
on every individual solder joint. Valor divides the tests into 6 categories and
reports concerns (in yellow) and violations (in red) as summarized here:

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Tens of thousands of solder joint checks.

A typical 100 line item BOM might have 500 individual solder joint
connections. We check each board for 242 solder joint rules, thats 126,000
tests (500 X 242). Heres some examples of what we check for you:

You receive a detail report by line item.

The Valor software reports a staggering amount of detail and can frankly
be overwhelming. We have designed a custom report organizing the Valor
output by prioritizing the issues. This is the report we provide to you.

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We handle the interpreting.

In truth, you probably wont actually want the report above.

Instead, youll likely rely on us to review the report and let you know if theres
anything you need to address (this is especially true if we designed the
board).

This is because we have in house design engineers,

manufacturing engineers, test engineers, and world class

PCB designers, so we have immediate access to the expertise

necessary to interpret and act on the Valor DFA outputs.

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Step 3: Open Book cost analysis
(not quoting)

You need a partner, not an adversary. The partnership starts with

working together to drive cost. We are big believers in the should

cost approach, which means you should understand the actual

manufacturing costs of the products your outsourcing, not just

the top line price. Most OEMs lack the resources or training to

conduct this type of analysis. Instead of just quoting you a top

line price, we provide you with a full cost analysis so we can work

together to drive out cost.

Your costed BOM is the repository of your

collected wisdom.

OEMs are often a little surprised when we point this out, but consider it for

a moment. Which manufacturer has the best price for each component?

Which vendor (as in distributor) offers you the best pricing and terms? Which

package/temp range/RoHS/bulk or reel or tray or cut tape combinations is

best for your circumstance? Have you leveraged your larger relationship to

negotiate preferred pricing? The older the product, the more this type of

knowledge accumulates in your BOM/AVL. This is especially true for custom

items like cable assemblies, plastics, sheet metal, and machined parts.

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So... share your costed BOM.

Apple, Cisco, and other leading outsourcers provide their costed BOMs.
Why? Because its dramatically more efficient and much more likely to
lower costs. Its more efficient because we do not have to chase after low
cost, highly custom, or poorly specified material. The odds of suppliers
magically discovering lower material costs are actually quite low, especially
for electronic components (see our article on how components are priced).
Were much more likely to actually identify lower costs for you when we can
focus our efforts on the cost drivers instead of chasing after every low value
component.

Where to collaborate, and where to compete.

In most outsourced electronic assemblies materials account for about

80% of product cost and we are not the direct source. The other 20% is
labor, overheard, and profit which we are the direct source. We are both
equally interested in the lowest material cost, so we are doing our best work
together when we collaborate on materials. Share information, sources,
prices, etc. Labor/OH/Profit we do have differing interests (we want more,
you want less!), so compete this part.

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Open Book Costing (we share too).

Transparency in cost is the heart of a should cost partnership. Finding a

contract manufacturer willing to provide open book costing is a foundation
to cooperating on reducing costs, especially materials cost. We provide you
the line item detail necessary to understand your product cost so we can
work together to drive it as low as possible.

Its a big world; prices will vary.

Global component pricing is an ever changing riddle. Since our management

team includes a former distibution executive we have a clear understanding
of how component pricing really works. One of the fundamental problems
is component pricing is often silod inside the component suppliers. There
is a nice person who prices United States procurements, a nice person who
prices Asia, and another nice person who prices Europe. And they dont talk
to each other. We often wonder if they even know each other, considering
how widely prices can vary by global region. As a broad average, we believe
component prices vary by about 20% around the world.

Global component sourcing.

Savvy buyers must know which region of the world is currently pricing
their commodities the best, so thats what we do for you. We maintain a
network of sources that allow us access to sourcing around the globe. This
is often very sensitive, so we work closely with you to make sure any existing
domestic supply chain relationships are honored.

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Cost reduction is an on going process, not
an annual event.

World class outsourcing OEMs dont treat cost reduction as a yearly

excercise, or something that happens during NPI, or as anything special. It is
part of the daily DNA. To get your best possible cost, you need a partner with
a culture of cost reduction who works in cooperation with you to drive cost
all year long.

Customized cost report.

Our cost analysis process collects a lot of data and you will likely only
want to see part of it. All of our cost analysis reporting is custom formatted
for your needs in Excel. We can provide whatever you can use, heres an
example of how one customer likes to receive the data.

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Step 4: Lean Front Office Processing

Front office processing refers to those steps we take to import

your BOM, acquire your materials, and bring your documentation

into our systems. Once you release your order, our front office

processes begin. The steps we take here are crucial to delivering

your product on time and have a substantial impact on quality

by reducing common errors. In this section youll learn about

surprising process innovations we have made through the

application of lean principles to office processes.

Lean Insight 1
All powerful Program Managers.

Our Program Managers run the show. They are not only responsible for

satisfying your requirements, they have the authority to make it happen.

Your Program Manager inputs your BOM, orders your fabs, communicates

your specifications to Manufacturing Engineering, controls your documents,

and plans the floor. Everyone in the building follows the lead of your

Program Manager. We do this because in a service relationship, the most

important value is delivered at the point of contact with the customer. Being

outstanding in a service industry like contract manufacturing is all about

enabling and supporting the members of our team in direct contact with you.

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Lean Insight 2
Dual BOMs.

We know, this is heresy, but its phenomenally successful. We use your

BOM in our costing tool for the ERP import which drives material and

planning (see instant BOM import below to understand why) and we pass

your original documents to Manufacturing Engineering which uses them

for programming the manufacturing equipment. The two BOMs meet at

the kitting/feeder set up stage when the Picklist gets matched up with the

Traveller. This is not only much more efficient, it creates a closed loop

feedback channel that automatically double checks for simple errors, like

data entry.

Lean Insight 3
No dedicated document control function.

More heresy. It turns out Program Managers and Manufacturing Engineers,

who actually use the data, are the most efficient and effective at storing

it. To be clear, we have strong document control practices, we just dont

accomplish the task by passing the docs to a 3rd party for storage and

access. Turns out that doesnt add value, in fact it induces error, and lean

principles demand we eliminate such steps.

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 Instant BOM import

During the cost analysis process we collected and organized all the data necessary
to import your BOM. In the process we identfied and resolved any issue that would
prevent us from importing, like missing, incorrect, or mis-matching information.
We accomplished the myriad little things, like customizing your part numbers to
our nomenclature, addng vendor codes, adding package codes, etc. Because this
was all done very early, once we receive your order we simply hit a button and
your data is instantly imported into our ERP.

Instant 100% ERP accuracy

Were really very pleased with ourselves about this one. Items are at the core of
all ERP systems. Items have many fields, usually around 25 that matter. Typical
active contract manufacturing divisions have 10,000-20,000 active part numbers.
Thats 250,000 or more fields that have to be correct. We dont know of any other
company that has the tools to make sure all the fields are correctly populated, but
if they did they would have 25,000 or more errors to correct (we know because
weve done studies on these types of databases). We have built just such a tool
and we know the moment your BOM is imported if there is any missing or out of
parameter data. We belive we have the only ERP database in the industry that is
100% correctly populated 100% of the time.

Instant procurement visibility

We have aligned our internal procedures to allow any procurement or program

management personnel to run ERP on the fly. Our ERP recalculates in about 15
seconds. So when your new requirements are loaded, purchasing sees them
immediately.

Instant = Efficient = Low Cost

Its great that we can execute these processes instantly. But speed isnt the real
advantage, its cost. Fast means we are extremely efficient, and less time directly
translates into less cost.

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 The industrys best real time dashboard

The screenshot below is a portion of our in house developed real time dashboard.
It is connected in real time to over 50 database components of our ERP and
Quality Execution systems, interogating the status of about 100 key operational
metrics. In addition, we push key parts of the dashboard to our smartphones 3
times a day, so we are always aware of our operational status. This creates another
remarkable efficiency effect. Our team doesnt have to stop and think about what
to do next, the dashboard guides them. And because each department stays on
top of their metrics, there is little need to cross expedite each other.

Real Time KPI Dashboard

Updates pushed to phones 3 times daily

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Step 5: Manufacturing

Manufacturing defects are more commonly induced by human

error than machine failure. So we trust automated processes,

and double-triple check anything a human does. This simple

philsosophy is the heart of how we approach manufacturing and

achieve less than 25 solder joint DPMO.

Double Check #1
Manufacturing Engineering starts fresh.

Manufacturing engineering starts with the original customer documents to

create the files and documentation necessary to process the job. Additional
information to process the job is passed from the Program Manager to
Manufacturing Engineering via an internal checklist to ensure all the required
docs and data are present for engineering. We ask a lot of our manufacturing
engineers. They basically start with fresh eyes and review the entire job in
detail.

Double Check #2
BOM compare at kitting.

At kitting we compare the Picklist BOM to the Traveller BOM. The Picklist
is generated by our ERP and drives material. The Traveller is generated
independently by manufacturing engineering. By cross-checking at this stage
we verify correct BOM entry, including internal part number, quantity per, and
AVL manufacturer part number, and packages.

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 Then we set up the feeders.

Ah, feeders. OEMs seldom realize it, but a contract manufacturers investment in
feeders can equal or even exceed the investment in SMT equipment. If you want to
ask a savvy question next time you visit a PCB assembly operation, inquire as to how
many feeders they have. Youre probably looking for an answer of about 200 feeders
per line. They need enough feeders to have each line running and a set up waiting
for each line. If you want to know if they have enough feeders for your work, count
how many SMT parts are in your largest BOM, times that by two, then times that by
the number of SMT lines at the contract manufacturer, and thats how many feeders
you need them to have (actually you should perform this calculation on the contract
manufacturers largest build but for good reasons thats hard to know).

Double Check #3
Now we do a full audit.

Manufacturing engineers start with the original customer documents to

create the files and documentation necessary to process the job. Additional
information to process the job is passed from the Program Manager to
Manufacturing Engineering via an internal checklist to ensure all the required
docs and data are present for engineering. We ask a lot of our manufacturing
engineers. They basically start with fresh eyes and review the entire job in
detail.
Post Feeder Setup QA

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 Meanwhile, were programming the equipment.

This is another area we have eliminated a human step. We run your information
through Valor to check for potential manufacturing problems, then we use
Valor directly to program our equipment (most contract manufacturers use the
equipment vendors software to program, meaning up to 4 different software
packages to cover SPI, SMT, AOI, and AXI programming). We work very closely
with Valor and the equipment manufacturers to support, streamline, and optimize
this process. About 75% of programming time is related to developing a library
of components for each equipment supplier. By working to integrate Valor
libraries with equipment libraries we are pioneering an effort to greatly reduce
programming time and improve optimization quality (this is a really big deal!).

Our SMT line capacity is up to 4x the

industry average.

The capacity of SMT lines is expressed in component placements per hour (CPH).
CPH ratings can be taken from manufacturer max rating, from an IPC standard
rating, or from actual boards. The rating from actual boards is the only one worth
paying attention to, and is derived from programming simulations of actual boards
and verified with actual results down the line. Most industry SMT lines run two
pick & place machines and have an actual CPH of about 15,000. We deploy a line
with two Universal Instrument Fuzion machines, the line capacity is 60,000 CPH
actual. Our other line deploys 3 Universal Advantis machines with a line capacity
of 27,000 CPH actual. Put another way, we have the capacity of a 4 line SMT
operation with half the overhead...more cost savings passed to you.

The secret sauce: Printing & Oven...

The manufacturing steps down an SMT line are solder paste printing, SMT
placement, solder reflow oven, and wash. Of defects induced on a SMT
manufacturing line, substantially all of them are related to either solder paste or
the reflow oven. Exactly how we develop our printing processes and oven profiles
is proprietary, but there are a few best practices we can share...

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 Solder paste printing best practices.

60-70% of SMT manufacturing defects can be traced back to paste printing. Keys
to successful printing are selecting the most optimal paste and the best tools
(stencil and squeegee blade). Solder paste consists of solder powder and liquid
flux. The solder powder is comprised of metal alloys chosen for the specific
application. The particle size of the solder powder varies, and the needle that
dispenses the paste must be sized accordingly. The table below is best practice
starting point for selection of solder paste/needle size combinations:

Dispensing Needle Size Selection Guide

Fo r typ i cal p ro j e c t s t hat c ont ai n fi ne pi t c h

c o mp o nents, we c ons i der l as er- c u t s t enc i l s
with micro-etching to be best practice.

Laser cut stencils are made directly from CAD data which
improves process control and can produce aperture widths
as small as 0.004 with an accuracy of 0.0005. When
appropriate, laser cutting can produce tapered apertures,
an angle of about 2 is best practice for optimal solder
paste release.

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 ...and oven profile best practices.

There are two approaches to oven profiles, ramp-to-spike profiles (also called
ramp-to-peak or tent profile) and the soak profile. We utilize soak profiles on 9
zone ovens. There are four basic stages, preheat, pre-reflow, reflow, and cooling.
During pre-heat the assemblys temperature is raised from ambient to a target
temperature at a rate that can vary from 0.5 to 2.0C per second. About 0.78C
per second is a good baseline best practice for average board sizes and densities.
As the board moves between zones, a T (delta T) of 40C is best practice. At
pre-reflow, also called the soak phase, the goal is to bring the entire board to
exactly the same temperature everywhere across the assembly. During this phase
the component leads are prepared for bonding with solder by the flux activator,
which removes surface oxide. The soak phase is critical to preventing voiding in all
its forms, and is especially critical for hidden lead packages (BGA, LGA, QFN, etc.).
At the reflow phase, the temperature of the assembly is raised just high enough
to cause the solder to liquify (the liquidus) and form a metallic bond with the
component leads. Best practices are to raise the assemblys peak temperature to
20-30C above liquidus and hold it there for a TAL (time-above-liquidus) of 30-90
seconds. During the cooling phase the objective is rapid cooling, because rapid
cooling produces the most reliable long term solder joint by inducing a fine grain
structure in the solidifying solder. However, if the cooling is too rapid solder joints
will crack from thermal stress caused by different coefficents of thermal expansion
between the component leads and the solder. Best practice is a cooling rate of
4C per second.

Post reflow first article inspection.

Once the first assembly completes reflow, the line is stopped while independent
quality auditors verify the process. The assembly is first visually inspected, then
undergoes automated optical inspection (our latest AOI was installed in 2014
and is state-of-the-art). When needed we inspect the board with automated
x-ray inspection (our latest AXI was also installed in 2014). When these steps are
complete, the board undergoes a final visual inspection, then the line resumes
production.

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Conclusion
As this overview demonstrates, the Optimum Method is not

about tips & tricks; its a consistant process that covers a range

of disciplines and is designed to lower your cost while improving

your quality. We dont know any simpler, more effective methods

of saving you time and money.

What to do next...

We make evaluating us further a breeze.

You can easily review our cost model by requesting a price. Your
quality team can review a 60 page IPC audit report at any time. Well
encourage you to speak with exisiting customers so you can get a
feel for what its like working with us. Our state of the art Quality
Execution System is fully on line and easy to show via a Webex. And
when your ready, well fly a team to your site to meet you personally.

If youd like to learn more...

We have tons of helpful information published on our blog.

Visit blog.optimumdesign.com to view our most popular articles and

get you started.

For direct inquiries, please reach out to sales@optimumdesign.com.

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