With Barack Obama as the President of the U.S., one of the most talked about topics in the surface mount technology (SMT) industry seems to be the slight resurgence of local outsourcing within the U.S. As the motivations for manufacturing electronic assemblies in the United States grow, more companies are re-evaluating the entire rationale of manufacturing their products in Asia.


The management of Surface Mount Solutions (a private PCB assembly company based in Campbell, CA. Online at www.SurfaceMountSolutions.com) believes that reestablishing local manufacturing in America will at least maintain quality and efficiency in the printed circuit board assembly industry, while offering better communications and control of locally manufactured products.


Outsourcing to destinations in Asia has long been the answer for many U.S. companies to receive lower prices, but at what real cost to the customer? By outsourcing assemblies to foreign sources, companies are exposing themselves to some common problems such as language barriers, product infringement, confusing logistics, delayed prototypes, and the lack of flexibility to make last minute modifications. Freight costs and timing problems also cause many frustrations. Since there have been enormous improvements in automated SMT assembly equipment in the recent years, efficiency and cost in manufacturing have dropped significantly. This fact makes it prudent that companies reconsider assembling back here in the good ole USA!