FAQ, cooperation process & shipping
The questions buyers ask before the first inquiry
Eighteen answers with real numbers: minimum order, lead times against both material clocks, file formats, sourcing and obsolete parts, NDA and IP, payment, certificates, RMA, engineering changes, packing, shipping and duties.
Four figures first
The numbers buyers check before they read anything
Eighteen RFQ questions
Grouped the way an RFQ actually arrives
Eighteen answers, split across four pages by the point at which you meet them. Before the order, while the material is being bought, and after the boards ship. Together with the process, shipping and packing material below, that is the whole commercial picture in one place.
Before you order
Minimum order quantity, how long a prototype and a production run each take, quotation turnaround, the file formats we accept and the NDA we sign before files move.
Read the answersSourcing, compliance and quality
Who buys the components and how authenticity is documented, what happens when a part goes obsolete, payment terms, the certificates we hold, and how defects, RMAs and engineering changes are handled.
Read the answersAfter the boards ship
Shipping lanes and transit windows, freight cost logic, who handles tariff and duty, and how the boards are packed against moisture and static.
Read the answersPacking has its own page: how the boards are packed for shipment.
Cooperation process
Six steps from first message to sealed carton
Each step names what you receive and how long it takes. The 24-hour node lands between step 2 and step 3, and it is the only promise on this page.
Inquiry
You send Gerber, BOM and pick-and-place data, or just a description. You receive a confirmation the same day from an engineer, not an autoresponder.
Engineering and DFM review
Within 24 hours: stackup, drill, annular ring, panelisation, impedance targets and the BOM's long-lead and end-of-life parts are checked, and anything outside the process window is written up.
Quotation
Price, lead time against both material clocks, terms and the delivery form, issued together with the DFM notes rather than as a bare number.
Material preparation
Components are sourced through authorised channels or received from you, inspected at IQC for date code, quantity and solderability, and baked where floor life has been breached.
SMT and DIP production with test
Nine SMT lines and 4-5 DIP lines, 3D SPI before placement and 3D AOI on 100% of boards after reflow, then X-ray, ICT or flying probe and functional test on your fixture.
Inspection, packing and shipment
Final visual inspection to IPC-A-610, OQC sampling to AQL ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 (general inspection level II, single sampling, normal severity, AQL 0.65 for major defects), then dry packing and dispatch with the CoC, test reports and packing list.
Preparing your inquiry
A first set of files gets you a quotation. A second gets you a good one
- Gerber data with the stackup and impedance requirements, layer count, dielectric, laminate, target impedance per net class.
- BOM with manufacturer part numbers, quantities and the alternates you will accept, so obsolete and long-lead parts can be flagged in the same review.
- Pick-and-place data in CPL or CSV, with your rotation convention noted if it is not the CAD default.
- If the set is incomplete, send it anyway. An engineer will reply with the specific questions, and a description of the project, function, target date, annual volume, whether you want consignment, is often enough to start.
- Then we reply within 24 hours with a DFM report and a quotation, and nothing is charged for the review before the purchase order.
Still unanswered · 24-hour response
Ask the question this page did not cover
Send it with your files, or without them. Engineering review and quotation within 24 hours. Saturn (Shenzhen) Industrial Co., Ltd., 4th Floor, Building 13, Rundongsheng Industrial Zone, 107 National Highway, Longteng Community, Xixiang Street, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.
