From a hand-built prototype to a deliverable production batch
A batch of devices that are all the same, tested and packaged, without you having to set up a factory yourself.
You have a device that works. The first ten units were built by hand, on the workbench, with a soldering iron and a laptop next to it to load the firmware. Now a customer wants two hundred. Or fifty, but next month. Suddenly it is no longer about whether the design is good, but about who is going to make them, how you know number 137 is just as good as number 1, and what happens if a chip turns out to be unavailable.
Why a batch is something else than ten prototypes
A prototype may be ugly on the inside. An extra wire, a resistor you added by hand, an enclosure that just fits because you know where to push. With ten units you get away with that. With two hundred units every action that is not in an instruction costs a quarter of an hour per device, and that quarter of an hour is spent by someone else who does not know your design and does not know where to push.
So we first go through the design with the eyes of the factory. What can a machine place, what has to be done by hand, which steps can go, and which parts were really only chosen because they happened to be in the drawer. Often that yields a small change to the circuit board, which we carry out together with PCB and electronics design, so the factory can populate it right the first time. If your prototype is still built on a development board, this is also the moment to turn it into a circuit board of your own.
Production files a factory can read without questions
An assembly company has no need for your story; it needs files. Gerber files for the circuit board, a bill of materials with manufacturer part numbers instead of only descriptions, a placement file for the pick-and-place machine, drawings of the enclosure, and a work instruction for everything that comes after soldering. If something is missing, a question comes back and your batch stands still for a week. We make that package complete and first have one party review it before we order.
The bill of materials deserves the most attention there. A part that was in stock everywhere last year can now have a lead time of forty weeks. We check per line whether the part is available, whether there is a second manufacturer, and what the alternative is if it drops out. For the parts that are scarce or have long lead times we arrange an alternative or a small stock through Component sourcing, so the whole batch does not grind to a halt on one connector.
Assembly, flashing, and testing in one line
We work with assembly partners in the Netherlands and the EU and choose per batch who fits the quantity and the technology. We are the point of contact. We order, watch the schedule, and approve the first unit before the rest is made. After population comes the work that is often forgotten. Every device needs the firmware, every device needs a serial number, and every device has to be tested before it goes in a box. For that we set up, through Automated test systems, a fixture that does it in a few minutes per unit and keeps the measured values. So in a complaint about number 137 you know exactly what was measured at the factory.
Do you want to assemble yourself or would you rather hand it off? Both are possible. For a batch of fifty units, a work instruction with photos and a test box on your own workbench is often enough. For five hundred units we have the complete product, including enclosure, label, and packaging, finished at the partner, and it arrives ready to ship.
The production files stay yours
Everything needed to have your device made again is yours: the production files, the bill of materials, the test software, and the work instructions. You are not tied to one factory and not to us. If you want the next batch made somewhere else, you forward the same package. If your device needs a CE marking, we make sure together with CE and EMC certification that the unit tested in the lab is exactly the unit the factory makes.
A batch starts with a free intake in which we look at your prototype and your quantities. If your design turns out not ready for a batch yet, we tell you right away and say what has to happen first.
01, RESULT
- A production-ready design with complete production files
- A bill of materials with manufacturer part numbers and checked availability
- Work instructions for assembly and final inspection
- A tested batch with a serial number and test report per device
- Agreements with an assembly partner you can carry on with yourself
Process diagram
02, HOW WE WORK
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We look at your prototype and your quantities in a free intake.
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We make the design production-ready and put together the complete production package.
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We choose an assembly partner in the Netherlands or the EU and have a first unit made.
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You approve that first unit before the rest of the batch is made.
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We flash, test, and package every device and deliver the batch with a test report per unit.
FAQ
FAQ
From how many units is this worthwhile?
From the moment building by hand costs more time than preparing the package for a factory. In practice that is somewhere between twenty and fifty units. For a smaller number we would rather help you with a good work instruction for your own workbench.
My prototype was built with a development board. Can that go into production as is?
Usually not if it is to become a batch. A development board is expensive per unit, hard to fix in an enclosure, and not always available. With PCB and electronics design we then design a circuit board of your own that runs the same firmware.
What if a part turns out to be unavailable during the batch?
That happens, especially with chips and connectors. We check the availability of the bill of materials before we order and build up a stock of critical parts through Component sourcing. If something drops out anyway, we find an alternative and test it before the batch continues.
