A bill of materials with parts you can still source next year

The prototype works. The circuit board is tested, the firmware does what it should, and the first client wants 20 units. Then you open the bill of materials and find that the microcontroller from the prototype has a 50-week lead time. The sensor has been discontinued by the manufacturer. And the connector came from a leftover lot at an online store that no longer carries it. We make sure your bill of materials is right before you order, not after.

Why a prototype BOM is not production-ready

A prototype uses what is available today. That works for one unit. A production batch multiplies every price, minimum order, and supply risk by 20, 100, or 1,000. A chip that is slightly too expensive, a capacitor only sold in lots of 5,000, a module the manufacturer drops next year: with one unit you do not notice, with a batch you do.

We review the schematic and bill of materials line by line. For every part, we check its lifecycle status at the manufacturer, how many suppliers carry it, the minimum order quantity, and the price at your volumes. Parts that are a risk on any of those points get flagged. Usually that is a handful on a list of a hundred, and exactly those few decide whether your batch ships on time.

A second source for every critical part

For every flagged part, we look for an alternative. Preferably one with the same package and the same pins, so the circuit board does not have to change. A resistor or capacitor is usually replaced in no time. A microcontroller or a radio module is a different matter. Then a small change to the design through PCB and electronics design is sometimes the better route, and we work that out for you before you choose.

The result is a bill of materials in which every critical part has a second source. If the first supplier quotes a 40-week lead time, the alternative is already on the list. You do not have to go looking for a substitute in the middle of production, and assembly does not have to stop until someone has found one.

Compare price, lead time, and risk

We collect prices and lead times from the major distributors and, where it pays, directly from the manufacturer. We compare them by part and by quantity, so you see what a batch of 50 costs and what happens if you order 200. Often a slightly more expensive part that ships now turns out cheaper than a cheaper one you wait three months for, because your batch is sold three months earlier.

Parts that are out of stock everywhere can sometimes still be found through brokers. That carries a risk of counterfeits, and we take it seriously. We verify the origin and test a sample on our automated test systems before you buy a whole lot. If the lot is bad, we tell you right away and keep looking.

From purchase order to the next batch

You decide how purchasing runs. If you prefer to order yourself, you get a bill of materials with manufacturer part numbers and order numbers per distributor, ready to import into the online store of your choice. If we handle small-batch manufacturing for you, we take care of purchasing and incoming inspection, and you see for every part where it came from and what it cost.

It does not stop there. We advise which parts to keep in stock for repairs and for the next batch, and which to order per batch. That keeps your money out of boxes of capacitors, and it keeps you from being unable to build a batch a year from now because one chip has disappeared. The bill of materials and the supplier data are yours, in a format you can use without us.