Customer-supplied components are part of some electronics manufacturing projects, even when the EMS provider purchases most of the BOM.
After the customer provides the BOM, Gerber files, mechanical drawings, and other manufacturing information, we normally handle the sourcing of PCBs, electronic components, and other production materials before moving into PCBA, final assembly, testing, and delivery.
However, not every project follows exactly the same purchasing arrangement.
In some projects, the customer asks the EMS provider to source almost everything. In others, the customer continues to purchase one or two specific components and provides them to the factory.
The number of customer-supplied components is usually small, but the reasons behind the arrangement can be quite different.
In one 4G data logger project for rally applications, the product used a specialized GPS module.
Unlike conventional GPS modules, this module was selected because the product required relatively high positioning accuracy, around 10 cms. There were not many alternative modules that could meet the requirement.
The module was also significantly more expensive than conventional GPS solutions.
More importantly, its supply was relatively limited. Before working with Fumax, the customer had already established a direct relationship with the US manufacturer and had completed the manufacturer’s required qualification process.
When production was transferred to Fumax, the customer continued to purchase the GPS module themselves.
For Fumax to purchase the module directly, we would have needed to establish a new purchasing relationship with the manufacturer and go through the relevant qualification process again. Since the customer had already completed this process, the customer continued to manage this particular component.
There was also another consideration at the time. Changes in the US-China trade and supply environment could affect the availability of the module. The customer already had an established purchasing channel with the manufacturer, so keeping that relationship on the customer’s side was more straightforward for this project.
Fumax handled the sourcing of the other production materials, as well as the subsequent PCBA, final assembly, and testing.
The GPS module was only one part of the BOM. Most of the other materials were still purchased by Fumax.
Another project came from a German power tool brand.
Most of the materials for this project were sourced by Fumax. The TFT LCD module and battery holder, however, were purchased directly by the customer.
Both components were supplied by Chinese manufacturers. Fumax and the customer contacted the same manufacturers separately, and the quoted prices were significantly different.
The customer was a well-known German power tool brand and a large end OEM, with a much larger purchasing volume than Fumax. The customer also had its own company, warehouse, and assembly operation in China.
This meant that the customer already had an established local setup for purchasing and managing these two components.
There was also a difference in payment arrangements. The customer’s Chinese entity could purchase the components directly in RMB through its local business account. Keeping the purchasing on the customer’s side therefore also avoided an additional layer of currency conversion and cross-border payment.
The customer decided to continue managing these two components themselves.
In practice, the arrangement was relatively straightforward. The customer would normally prepare around one year’s expected requirement at the beginning of the year and send the materials separately to Fumax for production according to the manufacturing schedule.
Fumax continued to purchase the rest of the BOM and handled PCB assembly, final assembly, and testing.
The result was that different components within the same product were managed through different purchasing channels.
The third project was a blood analyzer.
The product contained a special transparent plastic component used for transmitting and amplifying light.
From a manufacturing process perspective, it was still an injection-molded plastic part. However, it was very different from a conventional structural plastic component.
The part was located within the optical path of the product. After light passed through the component, its original color characteristics needed to be maintained without noticeable color shift.
This created specific requirements for the material, tooling, and injection molding process.
The suppliers capable of producing this type of component were also different from ordinary plastic part suppliers. They needed to be familiar with optical components, while the buyer needed to understand the relevant optical requirements and provide detailed specifications to the supplier.
This was not a type of component normally encountered in a standard EMS manufacturing project.
For this project, the customer managed the supplier for the optical plastic component and handled the quality confirmation themselves.
After the parts had been confirmed as acceptable, the customer supplied them to Fumax.
Fumax then assembled the parts into the product according to the customer’s requirements and completed the remaining production and testing processes.
In these projects, Fumax did not require every material to follow the same purchasing arrangement.
For components that were suitable for Fumax to source, we handled the purchasing and incorporated them into the normal production process. For components where the customer already had an established supply relationship, purchasing capability, or specific technical and quality requirements, we discussed with the customer which arrangement would work better for the project.
The arrangement depended on the actual component, its supply conditions, and the way the overall project was being managed.
Our approach is straightforward: keep the project moving as efficiently as possible while discussing the supply situation, purchasing conditions, and practical impact of different arrangements openly and transparently with the customer.
In the same production project, some components may therefore be supplied by the customer while the rest are sourced by Fumax. The important part is that both sides understand who is responsible for each component, when it needs to be available, and how the arrangement fits into the production schedule.
