Frequently asked questions

A PCB is the bare board — the laminated substrate with its copper traces, drilled holes and surface finish, and no components on it. PCBA (printed circuit board assembly) is that same board after the components have been placed and soldered on. Hongrong does both ends of that chain in one building, and the middle as well: we fabricate the bare board, source the components, and run the SMT and through-hole assembly.

Yes — rigid, flexible and rigid-flex circuits, from 1 to 32 layers, and they can be assembled here rather than fabricated by one supplier and populated by another. Flex is worth considering when the board has to bend or fold into the enclosure, or when it replaces a cable harness with a single board. It is usually the second thing to try rather than the first, because a rigid board that already fits is simpler to build and simpler to rework.

Yes — turnkey is how most orders here run. One supplier owns the bare board, the components and the assembly, so there is one quote, one lead time, and one party accountable if a board comes back wrong. Splitting the work between a fabricator, a component broker and an assembler can look cheaper on unit price, but freight, re-qualification and the hours spent coordinating three vendors usually cancel that out below roughly a thousand units. Above that — or if you already work with a fab and an assembler you trust — splitting can genuinely win, and we will say so rather than talk you out of it.

Standard FR-4 covers most designs. When a board needs more we fabricate on high-Tg FR-4, on RF and microwave materials including Rogers, Taconic and F4B, and on aluminium for boards that have to carry heat away. The full laminate list we run is FR4, CEM1, CEM3, high-Tg, Rogers, F4B, Taconic, FR1, FR2, 94V0 and aluminium. Rigid, flexible (FPC) and rigid-flex boards all come off our own lines — the board is not brokered out to a third-party fab house.

Both, on the same lines — you do not have to change supplier as a project grows, and nothing is re-qualified simply because the quantity changed. There is no minimum order quantity, from one piece upward, and bare-board and FPC runs go up to 500,000 pieces. The one place we are not the right answer is the very top of the range: at millions of assembled units a high-volume EMS will beat us on unit price, and it is better to know that now than after a quote.

Yes. We have no minimum order quantity — you can order as few as 1 piece of PCB or PCBA. That makes it practical to build and validate a design in your own hands before committing to a production run. When you are ready to scale, see moving from prototype to production.

It depends on the build. Sample boards are arranged per project, not ordered off a shelf: send the Gerber, the BOM and the quantity and we come back with the terms for that build — the sample price, the lead time, and whether a free sample applies — all before anything is charged.

We reply within 2 hours and issue quotes within 24 hours. Complex assembly quotes may take up to 48 hours, and we will tell you when that is the case.

Gerber files, a BOM (for assembly), quantity, and your target delivery date. If you do not have all of these, send what you have — we will ask for the rest.

What to send us — and what comes back →

Send your Gerber files and BOM through the contact form. We reply within 2 hours and quote within 24. If you are not sure whether your project fits us, read our "who we are right for" page first — it is written to save you time.

Two different things, and it helps to keep them apart. Fabrication is priced by the board itself: layer count, board size, copper weight, surface finish and how tightly the design is specified. Assembly is priced mostly by the components — the BOM is usually the largest single line in a PCBA quote — plus the number of placements and the test requirement. Quantity moves both, because setup, tooling and programming are paid for once and then spread across the order. All nine cost lines are set out in why small-batch PCBA costs more per unit.

No. Board pricing depends on parameters that differ between every order — layer count, size, copper weight, surface finish and quantity — so a published list would be wrong for almost everyone who read it. Send Gerber files and a quantity and we will price the actual order, within 24 hours; for assembly, send the BOM as well.

Because most of what a small order pays for is bought once, not per board. Stencils, programming, tooling, line setup and component minimums cost the same whether you order 10 boards or 10,000 — at low volume they land on very few units. That is also why the number falls quickly as quantity rises, and why the useful question at low volume is not "how do I get a lower unit price" but "which of these one-time costs can be removed". The full breakdown is here.

The four levers that move the number most, in the order the guide ranks them. Consolidate into one order instead of three small ones — three orders of 200 boards pay stencil, setup and programming three times, while one order of 600 pays it once, and that is the single biggest lever. Use components that are in stock at the distributor — a part on a 12-week lead time has to be bought through brokers, and it is one of the most common reasons a quote comes back higher than expected. Put everything on one side of the board if the layout allows it, which takes a whole setup out of the quote. And do not over-specify: ENEPIG on a board that will never be wire-bonded, or Class III inspection on a product that does not need it, is real cost for no benefit. The other four levers are in the eight-way breakdown.

Ask for it and you will get it: fabrication, components, assembly, test and tooling come back as separate lines. That matters for two reasons — a single all-in number cannot be compared against another supplier's, and it cannot be renegotiated when one of the drivers changes. One-time charges sit on their own line too, usually as NRE: new stencils, panel layout, test fixtures, first-article inspection and the engineering time to review all of it. Separated lines also show you which lever is actually worth pulling. What to send for a quote.

01005. The largest package we handle is 2512, and we support BGA with pitch from 0.3 mm to 1.25 mm.

01005 to 2512: which packages can actually be placed →

450 mm × 470 mm. Boards larger than that cannot pass through our SMT lines and would need to be split across panels. A board that is not assembled — fabrication only — can be much larger: up to 650 × 1,100 mm.

Yes. We run 24 SMT lines and 6 DIP assembly lines, plus 3 manual soldering lines and 4 plug-in lines for mixed-technology boards.

40.39 million placement points per day across 24 SMT lines — 13 YAMAHA lines (27.17M points/day), 4 Panasonic lines (8.36M) and 7 JUKI lines (4.86M). Full figures are on the capabilities page.

Rigid, flexible or rigid-flex — the same range covers all three, and any of them can be assembled here rather than fabricated by one supplier and populated by another.

Full parameter table →

Six, and they are not interchangeable. What decides it is pad flatness, how long the board will sit before assembly, and what happens to the finish afterwards.

If you are not sure which one your application needs, tell us the operating environment and we will recommend one.

Compare all six finishes, including where each one fails →

Yes — fabrication runs from 1 to 500,000 pieces. The only thing to watch is that the two size limits are different, and the smaller one applies as soon as we also assemble the board.

A board above 450 × 470 mm cannot pass through our SMT lines, so it would have to be split across panels or ordered as a bare board.

Board size limits and full parameters →

Yes. We operate 10 UV and polyurethane conformal coating lines with a capacity of 100,000 pieces sprayed per day, plus 2 PECVD coating units.

Four, and each one covers a different thing. Tell us at the quote stage if your product is regulated so we can confirm what documentation you need.

Which certification does your product need? →

The quality guarantee period is 12 months from delivery.

IPC-A-610 Class III is the strictest of the three IPC workmanship classes. It applies to products where continued operation is essential — medical, aerospace, defence and similar — and it permits fewer cosmetic imperfections, tighter dimensional tolerances, and requires stronger process control than Class II. Read the full guide to what Class III requires →

3D SPI after solder paste printing, in-line and offline AOI including 3D AOI, 3D X-ray for BGA and hidden joints, and first article inspection on 4 FAI devices. Functional testing runs across 6 dedicated testing lines.

How PCBA is actually tested →

We source through our own global supply chain, from suppliers including Sharp, Toshiba, STMicroelectronics, Samsung, Infineon, JRC and NEC. You can supply your own components, use ours, or combine the two.

Yes. You can send us the complete BOM and we source everything, supply the parts yourself, or split it — we buy the lines you would rather not chase and you send the rest in. If you are supplying the parts, have them arrive with the boards rather than after them, because assembly cannot start until the kit is complete.

Yes — this is one of our specialities. We help customers find qualified replacement solutions for obsolete components, aiming to achieve a faster, lower-cost outcome without compromising quality. See our full guide: What happens when a component in your BOM goes obsolete?

In Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. Our head office and factory are at 6/F, Bldg C, Qianwan Key & Core Tech Park, Xixiang St., Bao'an. We also have a small office in Los Angeles, USA.

Yes — we provide metal and plastic injection moulding alongside the electronics, so the finished product ships complete rather than arriving as a bare board you have to house yourself.

Yes. We provide electronic and industrial design support. Where there is an issue with a design, we would rather tell you before manufacturing than after.

Yes. Our customers are located across Europe, the Americas and Asia. Tell us your destination at the quote stage and we will confirm the shipping method, terms and estimated transit time.

Two different clocks. For a board that also has components placed on it, lead time is scheduled by order quantity. A bare board is faster and depends only on whether it is a prototype or a production run.

The clock starts when you approve the final BOM and Gerber files — not when you first send them. Component availability can extend an assembly lead time, and if it will, we tell you at the quote stage rather than after you have ordered. An expedited service can deliver a bare-board prototype in as little as 24 hours.

Where the weeks actually go →

Payment terms to be confirmed before launch — ask us when requesting a quote and we will set them out in writing.