Electronics > Manufacturing & Assembly

Alternatives to China/JLCPCB PCBA assembly when tariffs increase

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b177:
Hello,

Question, primarily directed to the small-business owners, but interested in hearing opinions for all experienced people here. For small-med PCBA, say 1000/year, what is your current thinking on how you will respond to the proposed increase in tariff on Chinese imported products? Are you looking at moving in-house (ie desktop PNP), US PCB+PCBA shop, Mexico, etc?

I have done an initial cost analysis for our BOM if the PCBA was done 'in-house' (in USA), but it isn't comprehensive enough to know if the PCBA equipment cost is justified. So many BOM items are so much cheaper at JLCPCB, particular Chinese branded components (passives, small signal FETs, etc). Even with tariff these parts will probably remain cheaper than the US equivalent. But other items, particular more specialized ICs, JLCPCB isn't a great deal, prices are better direct from the manufacturer, which may or may not have tariff depending on the mfg. And then anything that needs to come through a US distributor, the price is at least 50% more than JLCPCB (and may have tariff passed thru by DK). So a lot of shopping around to find the best deal for each bom line item (i.e. use lower cost Chinese brand + tariff, or more expensive US brand with less tariff).

And for folks that are already doing 'in-house' small volume production, have there been additional costs beyond equipment? has solder paste, consumables, maintenance, etc been a significant added costs that changed the profitability of bringing it in-house?

thanks,



Jackster:

--- Quote from: b177 on January 13, 2025, 07:56:30 pm ---
And for folks that are already doing 'in-house' small volume production, have there been additional costs beyond equipment? has solder paste, consumables, maintenance, etc been a significant added costs that changed the profitability of bringing it in-house?


--- End quote ---

Have you accounted for your time or floorspace or utilities?

Not only do you have the setup costs of the line (and the time it takes to do that), you also have to run that line with man hours and electricity.
The space requirement depends on the level of machine you go for. Desktop machines are quite small and only require a desk of space, small draw oven, you can have a whole line on a nice large desk.
But if you are doing more complex assemblies, you need a real PnP machine, 4-6 zone oven etc. It quickly adds up to a whole room.

If your product brings in enough cash to warrant doing it, go nuts. But you might want to consider trying to find another small business locally that does PCBA as a service who can just handle everything for you.

b177:
We are only building one board, with no plans for additional for designs. I've looked at the Neoden desktop machine, as a reference point, it seems capable enough (size, feeds, speed, etc) for the design. Can likely fit a 5x5 panel, 3-4 panels per day ~100/day, so would only need to do assembly just a couple times per year. That is great for being able to do other things, but has the issue of remember where & how everything is done, etc.

Yes space is a major constraint for us, and spending my time marketing to increase unit sales by 25% is likely to be more productive than reducing COGS by 25%. But if the tariffs go to 60% or even 80% as being thrown around... then in-house production could be worthwhile.

You mentioned utilities. Is this a major cost for a small setup (ie desktop pnp, draw oven, manual stencil printer)?

jduncan:
Your failure rate is very likely to cancel out any tariff savings.

globoy:
I suspect many Chinese CMs will open shops in other countries to work around tariffs.  The mid-sized CM for one of my clients is opening a new factory outside of China and moving some American products there (high volume stuff).  I just got an email from PCBCART - whom I have never used - for their new PCB/PCBA facility in Thailand.

https://www.pcbcart.com/article/content/Thailand-Factory-Launches-in-March-2025

I'll be looking at that and other outside-China CMs if the tariffs appear.  I took a look at a bunch of USA-based PCB/PCBA CMs at the end of last year and at least for my personal volumes (~250-1k/year per board-type) there were none that were even close to affordable for me.  I wouldn't consider my own setup because I've heard horror stories from friends who tried to setup a small production line themselves.  They spent a lot of time getting their process to a reliable point.

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