Right First Time with Perfect Data for Assembly

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Eurocircuits assembly service is now used to populate 16% of all the PCB orders we manufacture. And this number is growing. The advantage is clear, you receive your assembled prototypes and/or small series from a single source on an agreed date.

And as you would expect our philosophy of Right First Time for Manufacture also applies to PCB assembly service. Many common mistakes, especially in prototype production, where every-day counts, can be avoided from the start and doing so saves time, materials and money.

Below are our tips and tools to help you provide the perfect data for PCB assembly:

1. Creating the BOM data

The BOM (Bill of Material) with reference to PCB assembly is a file that contains all information for each component to be assembled on the PCB. To ensure that the pricing and procurement of these components runs smoothly it is important that the correct information is available in the BOM file.

To find out more about the BOM format and the data including what we consider to be the perfect BOM see our blog – The Perfect BOM

2. Use the power of Generic parts

Generic parts are defined by their characteristics rather than a manufacturer’s part number (MPN). Defining generic parts in your BOM makes the procurement process more efficient as we are not limited to a specific manufacturer.

We explain the benefits of using generic parts in our blog – The Power of Generic Parts

3. Understanding generic part numbers

Eurocircuits offers a wide range of generic resistors, capacitors, and certain pin headers, many of which are free of charge.

We created a guide to explain how to interpret Eurocircuits generic part numbers (GPN) and how the parts must be described so that the software recognizes them automatically.

Please see our user guide – Understanding Generic Part Numbers

4. Uploading CPL Data

A key file for PCB assembly is the CPL (Components Placement List). The CPL data contains the necessary information (side, rotation, pin 1 etc…) of each individual part to be placed on the PCB.

For more information of the format of the file and how to upload it to our PCBA Visualizer please see our user guide – Upload CPL Data

5. Verify BOM and CPL using the Assembly Checker

Eurocircuits Assembly Checker allows the designer to compare the PCB layout with the provided CPL and BOM data. The automated tool recognises issues such as: Incorrect component rotation, component misalignment and Footprint issues etc..

Please see our user guide – Assembly Checker