The Fine Art of Providing a Single Source for Fab, Assembly

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

While at the SMTAI 2016 conference and show, I met with Jay Rupani, president of Precision Technologies. Jay filled me in on what exactly his company does, what differentiates them and why. In short, having a single source for bare board manufacturing and assembly can save time, money and much angst.

Patty Goldman: It’s nice to meet you, Jay. Why don't you tell me a little bit about yourself and about Precision Technologies?

Jay Rupani: Pleasure meeting you as well. While still in college in Silicon Valley, California, I started my career at a PCB design and photo-plotting services company making edits to PCB layouts and worked my way within the electronics industry, working for PCB manufacturers to electronics assembly shops. So I gained plenty of experience from all sides of the spectrum.

Over the years, what I learned was that there was a lot of finger pointing between the fab house and assembly house, causing delays and frustration for the customer. I quickly recognized a need for an engineering services company that would handle all aspects of product development through manufacturing processes from start to completion, a one-stop solution provider.

At Precision Technologies, I have created a strong pre-manufacturing CAM engineering team where we thoroughly review Gerber data and make suggestions to prevent unintended design flaws and issues before we begin the manufacturing process. So, in a nutshell, we check everything beforehand for manufacturability, and whether the design meets the requirements for SMT pick-and-place PCB assembly lines for our turnkey PCB assembly services with correct parts and matching footprints.

How does this benefit the customer? It eliminates the frustration. That's our motto. At Precision Technologies, we eliminate the frustration of dealing with multiple suppliers.

What does that mean? You don't have to hop around from board house to contract assemblers. Precision Technologies is your one-stop shop to get everything taken care of from start to finish. With our turnkey assembly services, you’re worry-free, because if there's a problem with the boards, we are liable. If there's a problem with the assembly, we are liable. If there's a problem with the components selection, we are liable.   

What sets us apart? Communication between our sales and CAM engineering team. We have a pretty tight small team where we communicate thoroughly about every order before approaching the customer. In our industry, there's a lack of communication! Many shops don't know what they're doing!

Goldman: What part of board manufacturing do you perform?

Rupani: We do quick-turn prototype boards here in the U.S. and for production; we provide offshore pricing for those looking for reliable offshore partners but want to avoid the hassle of communicating with unknown suppliers. We have our own partner manufacturing facility in China.

Goldman: Do you do the assembly or do you also have partners for the assembly?

Rupani: We provide PCB assembly services from here in Illinois.

Goldman: But you've taken responsibility of the entire thing.

Rupani: Yes that’s correct, we fabricate the boards, procure components, and get the assembly done. Precision Technologies is a turnkey assembly shop for PCB fabrication, parts, and assembly.

Goldman: What kind of challenges are there in selling your services?

Rupani: Competing with offshore assembly suppliers and the challenge of counterfeit parts. We’re losing some business because of low prices from offshore but in my opinion there is a risk of unreliable or possibly counterfeit parts.

Goldman: It sounds like penny wise, pound foolish. They're taking big risks.

Rupani: I think it works when you're in mass production where every other consumer product is built offshore. What I didn't mention is that we specialize in quick-turn prototype services, R&D stuff. Everything is done in the U.S. We do a lot of medical devices, telecommunication devices, sensors, and power protection.

Goldman: Business has been good? Everything's going forward?

Rupani: Business has been pretty stable for us as our pricing is very competitive for prototype and small volume production.

 Goldman: There's always potential for more, right?

Rupani: Yes. Definitely, there’s a potential to grow.

Goldman: You probably save them a lot of time and money.

Rupani: Yes, we can help companies save time and money. Time is of the essence and our engineering support team is one of the best, and it’s not just us saying that. Our customers have stated that in their testimonials, and their words speak louder than ours.

Goldman: Great. Thank you so much for your time.

Rupani: Thank you.