Oh and if you do find a subcontractor that will turn it round quickly, does a good job at a reasonable price, let me know. Seriously.
My usual assembler has just been bought out, and isn't taking on new jobs for 6 months so I'm on the lookout for a new place.
And don't forget to think about how you're going to program & test 1500 boards.
BTW whereabouts in the UK are you?
We are over in Bournemouth. We haven't done any proper manufacturing like this before. I'm having to shunt most of this myself (Other employees want to use already built hardware that poses it's own challenges that may be a nightmare) I need to discuss with the customer tomorrow in terms of delivery schedules in what they want.
Might be worth talking to Soumac, who are pretty close to you
http://www.soumac.co.ukUsed them a few years ago when I needed some 400x600mm boards assembling, at the time they were the only UK place I could find that could do it. No complaints but ISTR when I had them quote for normal jobs subsequently they were more expensive than my normal place.
Nothing beats going down to see a subcontractor face to face.
A consistent issue I have with subcontractors is that very few are set up to turn stuff round really quickly - most of my jobs are small enough that even if I offered to pay double or more, it's still peanuts to them.
(Other employees want to use already built hardware that poses it's own challenges that may be a nightmare)
For a qty of 1500, it's an absolute no-brainer to build exactly what you need rather than making do with the nearest off-the-shelf product and modifying, both in terms of time, and probably cost as well.
The thing you really need to get to the bottom of is how urgent it actually is. Time buys you a lot of options to do it properly, shop around , prototype it so production runs smoothly.
I find that asking "Do you want it quick or do you want it done right ?" tends to make customers stop and think when they start wanting silly turnround times.