below.

roines reenig wrote:

>We've been having trouble with our current Taiwanese
>board partner. We found out that they've been padding
>up the parts costs with their suppliers. I won't name
>names yet. We're still dependent on them. We  are now
>lookin for a more honest partner who can be trusted
>and can expect trustworthy behavior from us too.
>
>  
>
If that's all they did, that's not so bad. Normally, for handling fees,
adding 20% is pretty much standard.

>We're planning to move to a new design and
>architecture for our productline. The board we're
>designing is a typical embedded board. IE: mainboard
>with cpu, ram, flash and IO. We've picked the geode as
>the core system processor and we'd have serial ports
>to interface with various daughterboards that have
>PICs and sensors of various types. I'd guess our
>mainboard design will likely be a 5-7 layer 3.5"x5"
>PCB with a limited number of BGA components and then a
>mix of SMT and throughhole parts. 
>  
>
BGA is rough- because BGA devices can't be inspected, it is
hard to prove that the work was done right. I'd design these
out if I were you- it limits the shops that can do the work. Small
companies DON'T design in BGA. Ya gotta crawl before you
can walk.

>We've got a team of low level software and digital
>design hardware guys. Our hardware guys are confident
>that they can handle all the schematic design and
>capture themselves. The work they're uncertain about
>is the board layout work. Given that, we're looking
>for a manufacturing and assembly partner who would be
>willing to consult with us on the layout and help us
>out for a fee if we run into trouble. The type of
>business we want is that when we do a design, we'd pay
>a downpayment and preorder a specified number of
>boards. In return, we'd expect the partner to take on
>handling of inventory and manufacturing details.
>
>  
>
I can do the PCB layouts for you, I own several great tools that
can handle up to 16 layers, but I'm not interested in the manufacturing.
I have in my bag one of the best layout guys I've every known.

There are guys all along the Mexican border who can do a great assembly
job. Mexican workers are real artisans. But these guys have been burned a
few times, and will only deal with people with proven financial resources.
They won't be a partner unless you are a relative of Ted Turner.

>I was hoping that some of you may have gone through
>this type of process. I'd really like to get advice
>from people who used particular vendors. Suggestions
>and recommendations would be great. 
>
>  
>
Everybody has. Several times.

What you need is called an investor, who will put his name and money
on the line. This guy will have enough clout to "fix" things when they
train starts to run off the track.

Good luck...

--Bob



>Thanks!
>
>
>__________________________________________________
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>  
>


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