A2e Technologies (A2e) provides a unique service to hi-technology companies - High Volume Product Realization.

High Volume Product Realization focuses on providing everything required to bring a new high volume product to market in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Higher volume products have unique design requirements that must be researched and carefully implemented. The primary goal is to shorten time to market while maintaining quality, achieving the lowest possible manufacturing cost and ensuring reliability. High Volume Product Realization achieves this goal.

Elements of High Volume Product Realization include:

• Reducing PCB Layer counts to minimize PCB cost.
  • PCB cost scales proportionately with the number of layers. Having the expertise to make a design work with a 4 layer board instead of 6 layers results in approximately a 50% cost reduction.
  • A2e has the expertise to design to the minimum layer count possible providing our clients with the best PCB pricing possible when they go to production.

• Choosing the most cost effective components.
  • Most firms pick the components they have experience with and not necessarily what's the lowest cost or best for the design.
  • Most firms do not properly evaluate end-of-life issues and make sure to use components with production life spans that overlap the expected product life span.
  • A2e has no bias to component choice. Taking everything into consideration, we choose what is best for the project and our client's success.

• Ensuring components are compatible with the CM for low cost production.
  • CM's, especially overseas, have preferred components they need to use in order to achieve the lowest cost production.
  • Most firms just pick what they have experience with or what they find at Digi-Key or other popular sources and not what's best for the CM.
  • A2e has worked with many CM's and understands fully how to work with them to achieve a design that can be manufactured at the lowest cost possible.

• Designing for Test & Manufacturability
  • Test points for every node.
  • Additional circuitry to support in-circuit testing.
  • Worst case design techniques to guarantee the design will work across all processes, temperatures and voltage ranges.
  • Potentially custom test-alignment equipment for the assembly line.
  • Many firms don't know how to design for test & manufacturability or even that it is required for low cost manufacturing.
  • A2e provides for these things on every project going to manufacturing.

• Designing to pass all needed certifications (Environmental, FCC, CE, UL, etc...)
  • Many designs will barely pass EMC. A design that will be produced in high-volume should have several dB of margin to account for variations.
  • Most firms do not include environmental testing in their schedules and budgets.
  • Most firms do not even know about or use HALT (High Accelerated Life Testing) to ensure a design is reliable for the long run.
  • The key to a reliable product that can be manufactured in high volume is extensive testing under all environmental conditions it will be subjected to. A2e includes time for proper testing and certifications on all projects that go to manufacturing.

Some companies think they can save money by not doing proper design. The costs they will incur from this decision are huge:

• What is the cost of a high failure rate on the production line?
• What is the cost of a high failure rate in the field?
• What is the cost of having an End-Of-Life issue with a component chosen without proper research?
• What is the cost of having too many layers in the PCB?
• What is the cost of not using the best component choices to reduce cost?
• What is the cost of not having the ability to do efficient testing on the production line?

The additional NRE and extra time required to assure the above items are done correctly, is typically recouped in manufacturing savings in the first two months!  ROI is exceptional. Failure to do these things leads to lower profits, poor reliability and potentially business failure.

Don't be fooled by low-ball bids from design firms who do not understand these issues.

Many service companies do not know these steps are needed  and do not include the above items when quoting projects. Some are constrained in hardware selection by what processors or operating systems they may have used in the past. Allegiance to a particular processor or other components due to past investment in tools and training for in-house engineers may in fact not be the best solution for your product cost, functionality and reliability.

A2e, with its diverse experience in technologies, processors, components and board layer reduction allows it to choose what is best for your product. We develop the best solution for your unique requirements, not what's easiest for us to implement.

A2e Technologies has adopted and embraced the concept of proper high volume product realization and has acquired all of the requisite capabilities needed to accomplish these goals. A2e Technologies strives to develop long-term, partnership-based relationships with its clients. These partnerships provide significant benefits to our clients as they continue to release new products into an ever more competitive marketplace.

Contact the A2e Business Development Manager in your area to explore how we can help ( Contact Numbers ). We can quickly provide a rough scope of effort and schedule for your project so you can make an informed decision on how to proceed.