I regularly use Chinese PCB & assembly companies (JLC, PCBWay, AllPCB) and been very happy with them, but I’ve got a customer who requires everything manufactured inside the USA.
Please can I have some recommendations for USA companies that will do small batches (50-1000 boards including assembly), ideally with an automated website where I can just upload the GERBERs and BOM from Digikey/Mouser and get an instant price. The boards are nothing fancy: 2-4 layers, 0.4mm pin pitch, 0.127mm trace, 0.253mm spacing, mix of through-hole and 0402 SMD.
I heard good thing s about Cyber City Circuits in Georgia, and Aisler also offers production In USA,
but I 'm not sure if you can just upload a bom directly for the quote.
I usually use Aislers matching feature for production in EU.
Not USA but North America - Bittele is who I use, they do assembly in Canada & China. You can get quotes etc online easily just as you want. You’ll have to request they do it only in Canada (which I’ve done for some builds) - there is often a small premium for that, but it’s been fairly minor so the online quote is a good reference. By default the PCBs would still come from China, however you can send them your own PCBs if you want (again some additional cost for processing that way).
Thanks, Cyber City Circuits don’t seem to have an online instant quote and their assembly page talks a lot about JLCPCB so it isn’t totally clear if they actually manufacture in the US or just outsource to China?
I’ve been reading some bad reviews of Aislers on EEVblog and while it is hard to find the information on their website, I think they outsource to unnamed “local partners” for production in the USA as they don’t have any facilities there?
Have you considered Circuithub? They are based in Massachusetts and the entire process is automated. You upload the design files, BoM, fix problems in the part numbers, take a look at the gerbers and place the order.
They will raise an issue through their web dashboard if they see a problem. They also give you varied pricing based on when you want the order to ship.
Thanks, they look really good. The prices are a bit of a shock after being used to Chinese bargains! around $50/board with assembly (excluding components cost) compared to under $3/board. But if that is what my customer requires…
The two highest tech, most automated ones that I’ve run across are Macrofab and Circuithub. Circuithub is based in MA, as stated above, and is partnered with Worthington Assembly which can handle anything somewhat more custom than what the Circuithub interface can handle. Circuithub has a fantastic podcast hosted by their CTO Chris Denney which talks about the nuts and bolts of what happens in an CM and really stays focused the topic of the CM business and what goes on behind the scenes. It should be required listening from the beginning for new engineers (and experienced too!). Macrofab also has an excellent podcast, but it’s a more traditional two guys yapping at each other format.
At one point I think Aisler was trying to assemble in the USA, but not sure they ever got there.
Not necessarily recommendations, but you might also want to check out Tempo Automation, Advanced Assembly, and Advanced Circuits.
Thanks, they look interesting. Disappointing that you have to create an account just to get a quote, and have to upload your private EDA files, not just GERBERs, CPL+BOM They share your private files to the Amazon Cloud and it does seem like they set up their site to build a ‘community’?
You’re probably not going to find a place that doesn’t touch an S3 bucket or similar that also has online upload, that’s pretty much the norm for anything that has a “modern” experience.
Both Macrofab and Circluithub use the design files so they can extract things like xy data more reliably, and allow you to verify orientation and placement of parts online.
Until last year, I worked for the company that owns Screaming Circuits (doing EE work) and I worked with SC closely. I never had to deal with external pricing - only internal number shuffling. So, I can’t comment on that.
What I can say is that it wasn’t my first rodeo and I found their processes, attention to detail, results and communication to consistently be impressive. My last design with them was packed with 0.4mm pitch BGAs and speck of dust-sized parts - all with zero defects.
I can’t give names, but I can assure you that the client list is a who’s who of household, high-tech names with demanding requirements. And not just test fixtures or whatnot - I’m talking about boards that are currently in orbit.
I’ve worked with MacroFab as well. For the right person/project, where a very hands-off process is desired - basically JLC style - they seem to do a good job.
The people I’ve dealt with have been nice and helpful. Still, I found the overall process to be, for lack of a better word, quirky or maybe not yet refined. So, I definitely experienced hiccups.
That said, if what you’re doing is pretty mainstream (common parts, common stack up, etc.), it may well be smooth sailing. So, I’d still recommend including them in your list of opinions to consider.
There are a lot of smaller more local ones. I’ve been using Technotronix in Anaheim, CA, when I need someone local. A client in Chicago had me use United Innovative Solutions in Elk Grove Village, IL.
These smaller shops will cost much more than Chinese shops and their quotations are manual, but they tend to come in at prices better than the big automated US-based ones, which are far more expensive in my experience.
One nice thing about working with local shops – they appreciate you as a customer more and sometimes do little favors (like an emergency rework, letting me inspect a suspect board with their X-ray, do a same-hour turn).
The reality is that most established shops will do most jobs well, but will occasionally have hiccups with something new/unfamiliar in their process, or due to change in staffing causing loss of experience.
(Aside: at each CNY, reset your expectations on board fab and assembly from the previous year, as there sometimes is a large shift as they churn people, either returning back to their home village, move to a new employer, or even setting up a new competing shop!)
Good to know… it also did feel like they played some games with their day counting, e.g. reviewing boards in the middle of the night and then pushing it a day when I didn’t respond til 7:30AM.
I can’t speak to Screaming Circuits specifically or how they handle PCBs, but it’s very common practice for American PCB manufacturers to utilize third party engineering and cam review services in India to do the first pass on getting designs to a manufactureable state. A large chunk of the PCB houses in the US tend to have Indian ownership or close ties to India so there seems to be a lot of timezone correlation for some of the busywork bits over there…
Another vote for screaming circuits. I’ve had about a dozen projects done with them. There was some trouble with large QFN packages but they deeply discounted the order and fixed them quickly when I brought the issue up. Highly recommend!
We’ve been using Technotronix for years, and they’ve only been getting better year over year. Not automated, but a quick email to Ken might honestly be lower time commitment than an automated system.
My team has also been using Circuithub extensively last couple years or so and have gotten good prices, lower than most but higher than Technotronix.
They share your private files to the Amazon Cloud and it does seem like they set up their site to build a ‘community’?