On 4/5/06, William Chops Westfield <westfw@mac.com> wrote:
>
> On Apr 5, 2006, at 6:28 AM, Xiaofan Chen wrote:
>
> > In our experience, pre-programming is in generall cheaper than
> > ICSP for almost all quantities (a few 100 to 150kpcs per year)
> > in the typical manufacturing setup. But this is calculated in
> > Singapore where labor cost is not low at all (about half of USA).
> > If it is in China maybe Olin's calculation is correct.
> >
> Olin is doing ICSP as part of a "test" step that is happening
> anyway; if you don't have as significant a test setup as he
> does, or don't have it set up to do ICSP in the same fixture,
> your numbers will come out different...

We are doing the same. If we do ICSP, then the ICSP is part of
the PCB assembly test (generally in-array test) and it will be done
in the same test fixture. The problem is that this test set up is not
as robust as the off-line Gang Programmer programming. So we
scap the idea of ICSP in favor of the in-house off-line programming
in most cases. If the firmware is stable, we will prefer vendor-provided
pre-programming service. The in-house programming is in general
more expensive and involves sending out for tape-and-reel. Silicon
Labs also offer relative cheaper programming service. We talked to
Microchip about this last time during the visit of one VP and finally
they start this service one year later.

Regards,
Xiaofan

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist