Martin Klingensmith wrote:
> Surely your's or your technicians' time must be worth something. It's
> still cheaper for you to do this in-house?
>   
Yes.   It is (amazingly).

By the time I pay setup, kitting, insertion/placement and assembly fees 
it ends up being that I can assemble them in-house for about half the 
cost.   Especially since I am able to get enconomies of scale across 
multiple products by using the same parts in all of my designs... I.E. 
prefer the same value resistors, diodes, etc.

With the through hole, I'm standardizing on a specific panel width as 
well so I can run any of my assemblies without re-tooling.

The problem with low-volume for board houses seems that I have to pay 
someone to re-tool for my run, so it costs more.   With my own assembly 
line, and taking pains to limit or eliminate re-tool costs between 
products, I can keep my costs low.

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