Strategies for semi commercial assemblies while protecting IP - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 09, 2025, 08:09:44 pm
content: I have a project that I hope to become a commercial device. I've done this in the past the old school way of having PCBs made and hand soldering thru pin components. I realize I need to be thinking more rational with my time. I would hope to start with batches of 50 and move towards whatever the future holds.I'd love to be able to just send files and get boards made, but I have no idea how financially feasible that really is. But way more importantly, I absolutely do not want my work in the hands of China or their meddling middlemen in the USA. I realize some here might question that concern, but I've developed 6 products for a certain industry and you can find every single one of them in fleabay, made in China. I take it very serious and I'd rather be overly cautious than be stabbed in the back again.With that said, the board should not need to exceed any more than about 12 sqin. I'm willing to invest in something like wave soldering if it makes sense, but I think that is more to my question.For anyone that might have experience in commercial type ventures, could you point me towards a rational road for ramping up? I don't yet know how many components will be needed, but 50 or less is my goal. SMD just seems like the right path today, and most devices are smaller and cheaper in that flavor. Some of them are just so darn small that hand work becomes tricky and it must be reliable. I generally have to pay more for larger packages just to make them more manual solder friendly.

author: Accu-Sembly
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 11, 2025, 03:47:30 pm
content: We have plenty of clients that have a no-overseas requirement in addition to NDAs. It's going to cost more, but is doable. You need to look at the cost benefit on how tightly you want the information controlled. In general, it's better to have the PCB produced over seas. Yes, they have the gerber files, but no component information. Then, a US company like us has the BOM and does the component population for production volumes. That seems to be the best cost balance I've seen, though we still have plenty of clients who only want US based PCB manufacturers with NDAs. Keep in mind, there's no point in paying to keep IP that would be available to anyone who purchased the unit and opened it up.How far along are you in the design process? Do you have an idea for a product and are looking for the next step or do you have a design and looking for prototypes? Have prototypes and looking for production volume?If you have Gerber, BOM, drawings then I'd be glad to get you a price estimate on what it would cost to provide you with populated PCBs, including the bare board, without using China. Even if you just want a rough estimate.

author: viper
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: August 12, 2025, 07:35:51 pm
content: Quote from: Accu-Sembly on August 11, 2025, 03:47:30 pmI really appreciate your detailed reply. Yes, I agree, we need to think logically here. We are only at the prototype phase but we have to keep some 'DFM' mentality here. I agree with you regarding IP protections against end users. In the past we have utilized potting as it seems to give us both a more robust device, but also hinders prying eyes. At one point we were also able to get proprietary labeling on some of the chips. It's a lot of hassle though.I was sort of wonder at what volumes it becomes practical for outsourced board population? In the past we have done the solder paste/mask and manually populated and cooked them up but I have concerns from a professional perspective to ensure we hit our quality targets. I am no master board builder.

author: hungmekae
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 06:11:54 am
content: Go with the SMD, should give you better p/p in term of manufacturing, quality, and professionalism with your customer also.Nowadays, no nobody want to receive a brick that weight 10kgs only to light up some LED.my suggestions is go with CM, a lots of CM does do NDA.Go with local to support business, but alternative you can choose others than china is with CM in low cost regions (Vietnam, Phillipines, Malaysia, ...).Add another layers of protections with firmware to ensure it will be a brick in case people got touchy, even you made in US, nobody ensure that your file are safe, better go active and protect yourself first.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 10:13:36 am
content: Quote from: viper on August 09, 2025, 08:09:44 pm"Two can keep a secret if..."The Pierces - SecretNettwerkMusichttps://youtube.com/watch?v=WUWu744yhjAOnly joking, don't do any of that.Aside from an NDA (which, coming from independent developer, means not much, you will probably never have the resources to prove who's guilty of an eventual leak of your design, same with a patent, I guess you won't afford to enforce it), maybe the easiest way would be to add at least one MCU or FPGA to your board, and protected the firmware instead.You can send to the manufacturer only a trivial test, so they can check that the hardware is working, but never send them the actual firmware of the working device. When the boards arrive from the manufacturer, re-program by yourself the test firmware with the working firmware.

author: Accu-Sembly
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: August 13, 2025, 09:29:49 pm
content: We have clients that use us for their prototyping, as little as 1 piece, but I think a good rule of thumb is to do proof of concept prototyping in house. Then, when you believe your design will work, outsource population to eliminate assembly as a potential point of failure. An assembly house like us is never perfect, but we are very good at what we do. Those units typically are ready for some type of "field testing." If your design works as is or with minor revision changes, then bulk of the barriers to production volume have already been addressed and you can quickly transition to higher volumes.

author: peter-h
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 23, 2025, 11:49:04 am
content: After doing it for ~30 years I have stopped manufacturing products in China, simply because they keep going bust and tooling and stock and WIP all get stolen.But if you must, obfuscate the product function by putting fake titles on the PCB etc to disguise what it does.I think the bigger problem is the chinese ripping off your product afterwards, and grinding off chip markings helps with that and is fairly quick.