Assemblers with an R&D department. What do you think?

[nctnico]

I'm wondering about how others think about assemblers who also develop electronics. Personally I'm a bit wary of using such assemblers. After all my customers pay me for developing a circuit and I have to rely on an assembler to keep the information away from prying eyes. I don't see that happening when an assembler is (in a way) also a competitor.

[Jay_Diddy_B]

Hi,
By 'assemblers', do you mean 'contract manufacturers or CM'?

There has been a trend in the last few years where CMs have been developing design services. These are called 'Original Design Manufacturers, ODM'. The idea is that will add more value.

This is a trend away from traditional CM activities, where the CM built the products using the drawings and BOMs supplied by the customer.

I have concerns with 'IP leakage', where even with NDAs you have to educate the ODM on how to design for your market, then they could sell their services to your competitor.

In these situations I like a very simple NDA:

If you f**k with our business, we will f**k with yours.

This work while there is a strong business relationship with the ODM or CM. But there is still IP leakage.

Regards,

Jay_Diddy_B

[nctnico]

I companies who solder components onto circuit boards. Ofcourse some IP leakage is unavoidable but there is a difference between someone getting a factory tour taking a peek at a board and someone being able to study it for days and maybe even go through the gerbers.