Professional experience with (lesser known) Asian manufactures - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2020, 01:18:08 pm
content: So normally my go to brands are always the things everyone knows, like Texas instruments, Analog Devices, Maxim, STM, Onsemi etc etc.But recently I have been very curious about Asian manufactures.Obviously about the price, but it also seems to fit much better in our assembly flow.Does anyone here has professional experience with brands like Fitipower Integrated Tech, Silergy Corp, Shanghai Belling, Richtek and such?What are your experiences in sense of reliability, customer service, availability etc?I am mostly interested in hands-on practical experience of people who used products/IC's of these brands and manufactures.In my particular case I am looking for some switching DC/DC converters, but I am actually curious how these manufactures hold up in general.Personally I already know that not everything from Asia is bad, and in fact can be even the opposite (very high quality) if you know the correct, professional and serious companies.

author: coppice
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2020, 01:33:02 pm
content: Quote from: b_force on August 11, 2020, 01:18:08 pmThere is no single answer to this question. It depends a lot on the goals and maturity of the individual company. As for the non-Chinese speaker using their stuff, it also depends on whether they have an outward facing approach, or are happy to only target local customers in Chinese. Belling, for example, has been around a long time now. When they started they produced energy measurement chips with a lot of quirks. They improved over time, and I believe their current energy measurement devices are pretty solid. Some other makers that have been around just as long have matured in other ways. Like companies supplying 3 cent low reliability chips for throw away items, like musical greetings cards, have now got those chips way below 3 cents, but improving reliability was not their key goal. If you were in China you would have a good idea of who is who, and what their strengths and weaknesses are. From outside its hard to get a general picture, and you will only know about a few standout players.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2020, 01:37:37 pm
content: Quote from: coppice on August 11, 2020, 01:33:02 pmCorrect, that's why I am asking if anyone has (hands-on) experience and can tell us these thinks

author: TimNJ
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 12:35:45 am
content: As noted above, it's really impossible to make any sort of sweeping assessment. Here's how I see it:If you are working on a high-volume product, where every cent matters, it may pay to invest a few thousand, or tens-of-thousands of dollars of engineering manpower to qualify a lower cost part (or assembly). Assuming the part in question has relatively good manufacturing repeatability/process control, then you should be able to make a fair assessment of the part that way.If you are working on lower volume/higher margin products, it may not make economical sense.If you can afford it (or if it makes sense based on volume), run some HALT testing, check with the manufacturer regarding their quality systems, schedule tours, etc.

author: bin_liu
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 01:02:32 am
content: Why is the price so low?Provide employees with very low benefits, or even no benefits;There is no quality department, no engineering department, except for the boss, the production line employees, so there is no additional "consumption";A component is purchased in very, very large quantities. After purchase, it is distributed to small factories. As long as there is a little profit, do it.The order for mass production is also very large. As long as he is interested in a certain module, he will be put into production in KKKK...China is not a free market. Because countless resources are controlled by certain people. Some people have a lot of money but cannot make other investments.

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2020, 01:05:54 am
content: Quote from: TimNJ on August 12, 2020, 12:35:45 amSorry, but I don't understand it?I am just ONLY asking if people have experience with these products, brands and manufactures?So if they used them in their designs and how these components perform.Nothing more, nothing less?I am not asking for people who don't have experience and come up with a story I already know.

author: ratatax
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2020, 04:52:10 pm
content: I used silergy power IC's, random chinese brand LEDs, Mornsun DC/DC converters... never had a single problem (I source everything on LCSC).Ah yes one LED out of 1000's was shorted, took 30 seconds to replace.Soon i'll try a sub $0.1 audio amp IC from Fuman tech ("Fine Mad(e) Electronics" hello Dave)

author: b_force
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 24, 2020, 05:50:40 pm
content: Quote from: ratatax on August 24, 2020, 04:52:10 pmInteresting, but yeah things like LED's as well as passives is normally not really an issue in my experience.I did have some very bad experiences with fake opamps as well as transistors, although the assembly wasn't coming from LCSC but some third party.This meant we had to redo about 1000 boards and call back 100 others(no fun and expensive)I am more interested in IC's but in general how reliable these kind of companies are.So every practical and real-life experience (ideally from a professional point of view) is welcome.