New SMT Plant

Determine what the likly product will be. Then match the capablity of the equipment to the market segment. Functional test is product specific. Several sticking points.

Customers like to see an operating factory before placing orders. Big capital carrying cost until they show up. The training of operators is significant and you may need some in place prior to 1st order. The buisness you are entering is really supply chain. Procurement of material in time to meet delivery schedule is what is visible. Customer expects good product and the assembly cost is small compared to material cost. Skills sets are: Supply Chain, good procurement trumps effiecient assembly. Technical for assembly and test, may not be readily available. Business, find and care for customers, need local knowledge and idea of cusotmers product and what will be required to deliver your service. Infrastucture, start up IT that can handle information control for all techinical and buisness documents, this will take a lot of time and effort whether excel or access based or on more suitable software. Facility with cleanliness required, keep humidity in control and reliable utilities. Someone to count the beans. There is going to be huge sums going out before there is any money coming in. It's easy to discover you are over committed when it's too late to mitigate the problem. Good luck, the competition is intense. There is always a place for the 3rd tier supplier, it just moves around a lot with little warning.

reply »