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The Diverse World of Printed Circuit Board Assembly
In today's world, printed circuit board assembly is a common aspect of manufacturing consumer electronics. However, it wasn't always that way. Historically, it was a difficult process that had to go through various stages to become truly economically viable. However, even if it is inexpensive in today's world, an electronics contract manufacturing company should still be considered a necessity, since it is so expensive to conduct this sort of work on an in-house basis.
When Albert Hanson developed the first flat foil conductors on an insulated board in 1903, he had no idea that engineering design services were changed forever. Soon enough, Thomas Edison was experimenting with a chemical system where conductors were plated onto a linen sheet. Arthur Berry patented a printed circuit board assembly process in the UK in 1913. It wasn't until 1943, however, that the technology was first used on a large scale to produce military technology during the World War II. When the US Army developed a new process, printed circuit boards could finally be used in consumer products.
The modern era has seen another trend. Ever since the transistor came along, there has been a demand for consistently smaller electronics. At one point, this simply meant that radios had to be small enough to fit into a pocket. In fact, one of the earlier transistor radio designs wasn't quite small enough to fit in a shirt pocket, so salesmen actually received shirts with larger pockets. Today, however, the rise of universal serial bus (USB) flash devices and other very small components for computers means that assembly has to be very small. As a result, surface mount components are often used in addition to PCBs, which might lend another level of complexity for those who are working in manufacturing.
Few individual workshops have the capability to produce such small components. After all, there are still people who make prototypes based on wire wrap construction models. This isn't something that should be necessarily frowned upon, since it represents one of the few technologies that can be worked on equally as well by automated machinery and human technicians. However, moving from wire wrap to printed circuit boards is a huge jump, and technicians might want to look elsewhere for final assembly, such as contract manufacturing companies.
Another reason to work alongside an electronics contract manufacturing company is that they can assist with design work. The engineering design services that are offered by such firms is a great choice for those who have an idea of what they want but might not have been able to put it on paper.
Author is a freelance copywriter. For more information about printed circuit boards, please visit http://www.zentech.com
Article submitted Tuesday, January 24, 2012 & read 5 times.
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