Industrial control & automation
Industrial control is not consumer electronics at a higher price. It is a supply commitment measured in years, a −40 … +85 °C duty envelope, a 24 V I/O boundary that has to stay isolated while drives switch next to it, and a paper trail that still makes sense when the machine is serviced in year nine.
What breaks industrial programs
None of them shows up on the first article. They appear in year three, on a cold morning, or when purchasing tries to repeat last year's order.
Buyers re-order the same board for five to ten years and expect it to stay manufacturable for the full 10–15 year machine life. One discontinued MCU or a single-source DC/DC converter forces a re-spin, a fresh DFM round and, when the board sits inside a certified machine, requalification of the whole assembly. Sourcing discipline and last-time-buy planning are what prevent it, not a faster layout team.
The duty envelope starts at −40 … +85 °C, and extended builds are specified to +105 °C, which is why industrial designs move to Tg 170–180 °C laminate instead of the standard 130–140 °C material and accept the 1.2–1.5× material cost. Add vibration from contactors and drives, and every marginal solder joint on a 25 mm-tall electrolytic or transformer becomes a field failure.
Isolated 24 V inputs, relay drivers, an RS-485 port and a switching regulator live on one PCB, so creepage, galvanic separation and return-path discipline matter more than trace density. CISPR 11 / EN 55011 emissions are proven at system level, but the layout, the ground partitioning and the conformal coating either help that test pass or make the fix an expensive re-spin.
Requirement → response
The numbers below are in-house ranges, not aspirations: each row is what we laminate, drill, plate or coat, and how the result is measured before the board leaves.
| Requirement | In-house response | How it is verified |
|---|---|---|
| Wide-temperature duty | High-Tg FR-4 at Tg 170–180 °C; lead-free reflow peak 245–260 °C | Laminate certificate per lot; thermal stress 288 °C solder float for 10 s |
| Mechanical envelope | Finished thickness 0.4–3.2 mm; panels to 600 × 1200 mm | First-article report with measured stackup and drilled thickness |
| Power and current paths | Copper 0.5–20 oz; heavy copper from 3 oz (105 µm), 2–6 oz typical for I/O and drive rails | Cross-section microsection taken from the qualification lot |
| Controlled impedance | ±10 % standard, ±5 % on premium builds; differential pairs to 100 Ω | Board-edge TDR coupon measured and reported per lot |
| Mixed-technology assembly | SMT components to 25 mm high; wave and selective soldering for through-hole | 3D AOI on 100 % of boards; X-ray on a minimum of 5 boards per lot to J-STD-001 |
| Inspection grade | IPC-A-610 Class 2 as standard, Class 3 documentation on request | Final visual inspection with inspection stamp, serial number and photo record |
| Condensation and corrosion | Conformal coating to IPC-CC-830B: acrylic 25–75 µm, silicone 50–210 µm, polyurethane 25–75 µm, parylene 5–50 µm | Coating coverage and thickness check; selective-coating mask reviewed before spray |
Supply continuity
Long-life programs rarely fail on layout. They fail on availability: in 2026 standard FR-4 laminate is quoted at 6–8 weeks, MLCCs at 20–50+ weeks, and automotive-grade MCUs and FPGAs beyond 52 weeks. We treat the BOM as a living document for the life of the product.
Evidence per lot
Ten stations, one traveller. Each one either measures something or records something, stations that do neither do not exist here.
Bare-board dimensions and coupon check; component date codes recorded against the BOM revision.
Koh Young 3D SPI measures volume, area, height and alignment; a failing print is wiped and reprinted automatically.
Every board on all nine SMT lines passes 3D AOI for presence, polarity, offset and joint shape.
Nordson DAGE X-ray on a minimum of five boards per lot; voiding judged to J-STD-001, images archived.
Takaya flying probe with four heads proves continuity and isolation before any fixture is built.
Agilent i3070 exercises 3,072 test points and writes a pass/fail record against each board.
A fixture built for the product powers the board, loads firmware and drives the I/O the machine actually uses.
IPC-A-610 Class 2 or Class 3 inspection, inspection stamp, serial number where the program calls for it.
Carton, label and document check to AQL ANSI/ASQ Z1.4 (general inspection level II, single sampling, normal severity, AQL 0.65 for major defects); CoC and test records travel with the goods.
Returns are matched to their own AOI, X-ray and test records, then closed with an 8D/CAPA action.
Certification & compliance
Industrial programs are audited on precision of language as much as on process, so the status of each item is stated exactly as it stands.
ISO 9001:2015
Quality system certified to ISO 9001:2015, audited annually by SGS. Industrial builds add the checks this vertical fails on: a locked stackup so a board stays buildable for the product's ten-year life, and laminate traceability per lot.
UL 796
Recognised printed wiring board fabrication. The route by which your end product carries UL 508A / UL 50 and UL 94 V-0 listings.
IPC standards
Workmanship and performance to IPC-A-600, IPC-6012, IPC-A-610 Class 2 & 3 workmanship and J-STD-001; soldering practice and void criteria follow the same set.
RoHS & REACH
Compliant lead-free production with a per-board material declaration available; 3TG conflict-minerals policy with CMRT on request.
Full scanned certificate package released on request.
Application case
A cabinet-mounted machine controller, built as a project type rather than a one-off: six layers on High-Tg laminate, 2 oz inner copper for the 24 V rail, a hard-gold edge connector for the expansion bus, and an isolated field-side partition that keeps drive wiring away from logic ground.
Quotation in 24 hours
Gerber, BOM and pick-and-place coordinates, plus the temperature range and expected annual volume if you have them. A DFM report and a price come back within one working day.
Send your Gerber, BOM or a plain description. An engineer, not a sales script, reviews it and replies within one working day. NDA on request.