Do you have an idea for an electronic product, the next must-have gadget, music or video system,
time saver, or greatest problem-solving device that was ever invented?
Even if you have the electronics product design expertise available,
there are a number of tasks that you must complete and issues that you
must resolve before you have an actual product design that can be
produced, marketed, and sold. Once you have completed a product
specification document and a marketing study, you should be prepared to
have the product electronics and packaging design processes begun so
that a prototype unit can be assembled and tested.
One of the first choices that must be made in the electronics design
is which microprocessor or microcontroller architecture will be
utilized if your product idea requires processing capability. Most
microprocessor or microcontroller devices are available in a variety of
configurations of internal memory sizes with some including
non-volatile Flash memory for program storage, quantity and types of
input and output pins, package types for surface mount or thru-hole applications, clock speeds, and interfaces that are supported by the processor without having to add additional devices.
Once a microprocessor or microcontroller family is selected,
additional decisions must be made on which system clock frequency to
use, how much processor and system memory
will be required for the application, and how the software development
processes are to be supported. The choice of processor architecture
must consider the available software development
and testing tools and the software design resources that will be
required for your product's software/firmware design. Additional
decisions must be made on how the software/firmware will be loaded into
the processor's memory during the manufacturing process. Will the
design allow the finished product to accept field or user initiated
software/firmware upgrades, or will the product be a one-time
programmable unit?
Before the processor portion of the design is completed, you must
also define which types of interfaces to external systems will be
required (serial port, parallel port, USB, Ethernet, wireless
connection such as 802.11x or Bluetooth,
infrared, etc.) and the minimum interface bandwidth rates required.
All of these factors will play a role in choosing the best processor
product to use in your design application. Some
microprocessor/microcontroller product examples that you can research
are the MicroChip PAL series and the family of products from Atmel as
both of these suppliers provide some very powerful but low cost
processor solutions.
Electronic components, including microprocessors and
microcontrollers, are typically available in both surface mount and
thru-hole versions. Some electronic components may be available in
only one format (such as some transformers, relays, capacitors, power
resistors, or connectors being available only in thru-hole packages).
Surface mount components are preferred for any volume level production
as they are usually less expensive to purchase, more readily available,
and allow for more compact printed circuit board
designs as the components take up much less space and can be applied to
both sides of the board if necessary. Using surface mount technology
may allow the printed circuit board design to use a smaller size and/or
fewer layers, thus reducing raw board costs. However, surface mount
components can make in-house assembly and soldering difficult if not
impossible if you do not have the proper equipment and expertise.
The completed design will include a power supply
section that will provide the voltage and current levels required by
the design's components. Input power options could include plugging
the unit into a 120 VAC outlet and converting the AC voltage to the
appropriate regulated DC voltage levels internally as part of the power
supply design. You could also choose to use an external power adapter
that converts 120 VAC to a DC voltage level and then regulates this
incoming DC voltage level to the level required by the design. A third
option would be to have the product powered by batteries. If your
product is to be battery powered, in addition to defining the battery
technology and the number of amp hours of power storage in the
batteries, you should also consider if a rechargeable battery design or
an end user replaceable battery design is best for the product
application and pricing.
Once the electronics design and the printed circuit board design are completed, the mechanical packaging and external enclosure
designs can be finalized and the initial software development can be
completed. Now it is time to have a prototype unit assembled and
tested and decisions must be made regarding the manufacturing of the
initial prototype units. Choices include ordering all of the
components and assembling the prototype product in-house if you have
the assembly expertise, subcontracting the prototyping process to a
domestic contract electronics manufacturing company, or subcontracting
the prototyping process to a contract electronics manufacturing company
located off shore. If you do not have the expertise or equipment to
properly assemble the prototype units, you should prepare a list of
companies who can support your prototyping and production needs and
begin the process of identifying your best options.
In addition to identifying who will assemble the prototype units,
you should also be identifying which option you will use for
manufacturing the production units. Choices include manufacturing the
units yourself, contracting the assembly of the units externally with a
domestic, or contracting the assembly of the units with an off shore
electronics manufacturing service provider.
If you plan to use an external manufacturing source, consider that some
companies specialize in low volume specialty assemblies, such as
prototype units or initial production, but are not able to cost
effectively support high volume production levels due to capacity
limitations. Other companies are in the opposite spectrum and
specialize only in high volume levels. The quantity of units that
would be high volume production from your point of view may not be
large enough to elicit any interest a strictly high volume
manufacturer. You should also consider delivery times from receipt of
your purchase order as a factor in choosing an outside assembly source.
Another important factor to consider in this process of evaluating
electronics manufacturing service providers would be the design
assistance that they may be able to provide throughout the process of
developing the product. Services such as electronics design and
printed circuit board layout design,
component selection and procurement process with assistance in
multi-sourcing components, enclosure design, mechanical packaging
design, and providing production capability from prototyping to low
volume to high volume could all be of immense help to you. In
addition, a contract electronics manufacturer may also provide
suggestions to improve the manufacturability, lower component costs,
and improve the product's reliability. Be sure to have an appropriate
Non-Disclosure Agreement in place with any and all parties that are
involved in this process to protect your intellectual property.
You must also define how will the manufactured product is to be
tested and packaged. Once the product has been prototyped and tested
successfully, it is important to determine the quantity of units to be
manufactured for the initial production run and for volume
manufacturing levels. You must also understand how many levels of
distribution the product go through (with each level taking a cut of
the margins) before it gets in front of a consumer to purchase.
If you are an inventor or have a great electronic product idea, I
don't want to discourage you, but you must consider all of these
activities and their associated costs before you commit to the
thousands of dollars of expenses required for designing and prototyping
your product idea. For instance, you should be prepared at a minimum
to either perform yourself or to subcontract the completion of the
following tasks:
- Product idea research (are there any existing products or patents already existing for this idea)
- Product specification document preparation (what it will do, how
it will look, how will it be powered, and how the user will interface
with it)
- Marketing study (what it will be named, who would buy this, how
much would they pay, how will we get customers to purchase the product)
- Schematic or electronic circuit design process
- Creation of a bill of material or BOM and an approved vendor's
list or AVL for each component in the design, preferably with multiple
sources identified, with a BOM and AVL for each assembly level in the
product
- Printed circuit board layout design process (single sided board,
double sided board, or multilayer board; size of the pcb; board
material)
- Mechanical packaging design with user interfaces (displays,
buttons, switches, keys, interconnects, power supply, etc.);
determining if the product assembly require sealing, internal conformal
coating, or potting to protect against moisture
- Software/firmware development process and software tools required
- Prototype component procurement, prototype assembly and associated setup costs, and testing with software/firmware
- There may also be some UL and/or FCC regulatory compliance testing
required depending upon your product application (such as FCC Part 15
and UL standards that may apply to the product category)
- Revisions to the designs as necessary based on initial testing
results with possibly additional rounds of prototyping being required
- Any required changes from the prototype assembly and testing
processes must be incorporated prior to the first production run. This
may require changes to the schematic and printed board designs, changes
to the mechanical packaging, changes to the software/firmware, or cosmetic changes to the enclosure packaging.
Jim Usery is the Sales and Marketing Director at Innovative Circuits
Inc. (311A S Parkway St; Corinth, MS 38834). He can be reached by the
following: office 662-287-2007: toll free: 866-887-7381; fax:
662-665-9275; email:
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
. Visit our website at http://www.icimfg.com.
Subscribe to this comment's feed