How To Start PCB Manufacturing Business?

2023-03-23T14:24:53

By SolutionBuggy

Electronic Materials Electronics Industry Electronics manufacturing PCB manufacturing

PCB is the base of any electronic equipment and provides connectivity to electronic components such as diodes, capacitors, resistors, transistors, coils, and transformers. Hence it has opened a plethora of opportunities for entrepreneurs looking to start PCB manufacturing business in India.

There is an exponential demand for Printed circuit boards as electronic components find applications in every field of our daily life such as communication, entertainment, defence, health care services, transportation, R&D, education, etc. The existence of electronic equipment cannot be imagined without printed circuit boards and it also plays an important role in reducing the size of electronic components.

PCB manufacturing business market size in India is valued at USD 2.8 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach USD 7.6 billion by 2026 growing at a CAGR of about 18% in the forecast period. More than 60% of PCB manufacturers in India are small and unorganised. Read the complete blog to know how to start a PCB manufacturing business.

Here Are The Machinery Required To Start PCB Manufacturing Business:

Heatwave soldering machine
Temperature control soldering station
Oscilloscope
Soldering Iron 65 W
Variant rheostat
LCR-Q Metre
Function Generator

Raw Materials Required To Start PCB Manufacturing Business:

Solder, wires, chemicals, flux, copper wire, solder mask, silkscreen, and flux are the important raw materials required to start a PCB manufacturing business. The substrate is required to act as a base material and a solder mask is required to ensure that no shorting takes place. Copper is added to the functional sides of the PCB and silkscreen serves as the final layer. Most of the raw materials except substrate remain the same to manufacture different types of printed circuit boards

Here Are The Steps To Start PCB Manufacturing Business:

1.Market Research:

The first step to start a PCB manufacturing business is to conduct market research. It is extremely important to have sufficient knowledge in PCB design, applications, market size, market dynamics, working of electronic components, competitors, etc. It is advisable to get a market research report done by market research consultants to understand the market in depth to make crucial decisions.

Market research helps you to understand the market opportunities, market gaps, competition intensity, challenges, consumer behaviors, etc. The market research also helps you in choosing the target audience and developing marketing strategies.

2.Project Report:

A Detailed Project Report is an elaborative summary of a project having critical information which serves as a blueprint of a project after which the implementation and operational phase can begin.

The Detailed Project Report plays an important role in claiming bank loans and subsidies to start a Printed Circuit Board manufacturing business. The objective of the DPR is to provide financial, technical, economic, manufacturing, and service-related aspects.

3.Registrations and Licences:

The third step to start PCB manufacturing business is to have an LLP or Pvt. Ltd formation. Then apply for a trade licence and Udyog Aadhar MSME registration. Additionally, it is extremely important to apply for NOC and ISO certification. Get the company name, logo, and GST registration number. The licence should be related to occupational safety and must pertain to the environment.

4.Staffing:

To start and run a printed circuit board manufacturing business, it is extremely important to hire skilled employees and designers to increase productivity and decrease manufacturing errors

5.Software to design PCB:

It is almost impossible to start a printed circuit board manufacturing business without investing in software. PCB design software assists electronic engineers in designing layouts for printed circuit boards and it is most often used by engineering teams involved in product development.

Before buying software, it is advisable to take a free trial of the software and check the pros and cons as it takes you through the steps of PCB design. Research on various software available in the market and get guidance from printed circuit board designers as they will have the right expertise and skills.

6.Prototype and First Production Run:

Developing a prototype is extremely important especially if you are looking for funding. Most investors would like to see the potential and calibre of your creations along with your business plan and marketing strategy. After developing your prototype, it is important to do testing and receive feedback from various stakeholders, consultants, and subject matter experts. Here are the important steps in the manufacturing process

7.PCB Assembly:

PCB assembly has several layers such as substrate, silkscreen, solder mask, and copper and each one plays a significant role in the functionality of the final printed circuit board. The substrate forms the base material and the solder mask provides greenish colour to PCB and insulates copper traces from unintentionally contacting other conductive materials, which could result in a short.

The silkscreen forms the final layer of the PCB board and this layer adds labels to the PCB in the form of characters and symbols which indicates the function of each component on the board. PCB assembly business is also considered as one of the best businesses in India

PCB Manufacturing Business Plan:

1.Designing:

The first step of the PCB manufacturing business plan is to design the PCB with the help of R&D specialists. The designer first has to prepare a blueprint that fulfills all the requirements. Some of the most important software used to design printed circuit boards are Extended Gerber, Altium Designer, Eagle, KiCad, Pads, etc.

Extended Gerber also known as IX274X works in an output format and can encode crucial data such as the number of solder masks and the number of copper layers needed. The design has to be verified to make sure there are no errors and then the finished PCB design is sent to the PCB fabrication house.

2.Printing The Design:

The PCB design will be checked by DFM after the design reaches the printed circuit board fabrication house. A special kind of printer known as a plotter printer is used to print the PCB design on a film and the inside layers of the PCB are represented in two ink colours.

The black ink represents the conductive copper parts of the PCB and the clear ink indicates non-conductive areas of the printed circuit board, like the fibreglass base. After printing the design on a film, a registration hole is punched through them to align the films.

3.Printing The Inner Layers:

Copper is pre-bonded on both sides of the laminate and then etched away to reveal the blueprint. Then the laminate is covered with resin that is made of photo-reactive chemicals to get a perfect match between the photos of the blueprint and what’s printed to the photoresist. Then the board should be washed with an alkaline solution and then left to dry

4.Laminating:

After confirming PCB layers are defect-free, the laminating process is done in two steps: the lay-up step and the laminating step. PCB layers are sandwiched using metal clamps by placing a layer of pre-coated epoxy resin known as prepreg on the table’s alignment basin. Pins are then punched down through the stack of layers and the PCB stack is taken to the laminating press to apply both heat and pressure to the stack of layers.

5.Drilling:

The X-ray machine is used to locate the drill spots and then a computer-guided drill is used to make the holes themselves, using the file from the Extended Gerber design as a guide. After holes are drilled into the stack board, the additional copper stuck to the edges of the panel has to be removed using a profiling tool.

6.Plating and Copper Deposition:

After drilling, the panel has to be plated using a chemical to fuse different layers of the PCB together. The printed circuit board is bathed in a series of chemicals to coat the panel in a micron-thick layer of copper, which is deposited over the top-most layer to cover the drilled holes.

7.Final Etching:

The tin guard is used to protect the copper during the etching and chemical solutions are applied to remove the excess unwanted copper. The dark ink covers the non-conductive layers and the light ink allows the tin plating to cover the copper and protect it to make sure conducting areas and connections are properly established

8.Solder Mask Application:

Before the solder mask application, panels have to be cleaned thoroughly and then ultraviolet light has to be struck to indicate where the solder mask needs to be removed.

9.Completing the PCB:

Completing the PCB requires plating with conductive materials, such as hard gold, immersion silver, Hot air solder levelling (HASL), Organic solderability preservative (OSP), etc. After the PCB has been coated, an electrical reliability test has to be performed to check how well the initial PCB design stood up to the manufacturing process. After testing, printed circuit boards must undergo one final inspection before packaging and shipping.

Applications of PCB:

Printed circuit boards are an important component of electronic items and have found a place in almost all the electronics such as calculators, computers, home appliances, smartphones, LED displays, medical devices, digital clocks, sensors, aerospace components, navigation systems, security cameras, defence equipment, industrial equipment, CT scanners, smart watches, power inverters, electronic microscopes, stereo set, assembly machines, game consoles, etc.

Are You Looking To Start PCB Manufacturing Business?

If you are looking to start a PCB manufacturing business, register in SolutionBuggy and get all the services required to start and grow the printed circuit board manufacturing unit. SolutionBuggy being India’s one of the largest consultants in the electronics industry has more than 500 electronic consultants and completed 750 projects in the electronics domain.

Services We Provide To Start PCB Manufacturing Business:

Market Research
Detailed Project Report
PCB layout design
Registrations and licences
Guidance on procurement of machinery and raw materials.
Prototype
PCB fabrication
PCB assembly
Turnkey PCB manufacturing plant setup

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