Turnkey PCBA: One Supplier from Bare Board to Tested Assembly
Turnkey means the customer supplies a design and receives a tested assembly. Everything between those two points, which is where most of the friction in an electronics programme lives, sits with one supplier. That is the practical difference between turnkey and buying fabrication, components and assembly separately: not a lower price on any single line item, but the removal of the handovers where a schedule slips and where responsibility becomes unclear.
What is included
- PCB fabrication. Rigid single-sided, double-sided and multilayer boards up to 24 layers, with controlled impedance and lead-free surface finishes where the design requires them. Fabrication capability covers heavy copper and high-Tg material for power and thermal designs.
- Component sourcing. Procurement against your BOM through authorized and franchised channels, with incoming inspection and anti-counterfeit verification before release to production.
- SMT assembly. Fine-pitch placement down to 01005 and 0.25 mm pitch on high-speed SMT lines, with 3D SPI before placement and AOI after reflow.
- Through-hole and mixed technology. Automatic DIP lines for wave and selective soldering, plus hand insertion for odd-form parts.
- Conformal coating. Acrylic, polyurethane and silicone coating with masking planned from the assembly drawing, for boards that see condensation, humidity cycling or salt air.
- Test and programming. In-circuit and functional test where specified, device programming, and lot-level traceability retained across the whole build.
- Box build. Enclosure assembly, cable and harness fitting, labelling, and the functional test that confirms a finished unit.
How a turnkey order runs
A turnkey build is a fixed sequence with a decision point at each step, which is what keeps the committed schedule believable rather than optimistic.
- File review. Gerber, BOM and assembly drawing are checked for completeness, and anything missing is listed rather than assumed.
- DFM findings. Fabrication limits, assembly clearances and part availability issues are returned in writing, with the cost or schedule effect of each stated. The DFM review is what turns a design review into a set of decisions.
- Quotation. Component cost, fabrication, assembly and test are quoted as separate lines with lead time and minimum quantity, so the figure can be compared against another supplier line by line.
- Material plan. Long-lead and single-source parts are ordered first, alternatives are proposed for anything at risk, and the production date is set against the slowest part rather than the average one.
- First article and production. SPI, AOI and X-ray run in line; in-circuit and functional test are applied to the scope agreed at quotation.
- Release. Inspection and test records, material declarations and lot traceability are packed with the shipment.
Why the handovers matter
A programme that buys boards from one supplier, parts from another and assembly from a third has three schedules to align and three parties to coordinate when something moves. A bare board that arrives late stops the line whether or not the assembler was ready. A component that goes on allocation is discovered by the assembler but owned by the buyer. Turnkey collapses those interfaces: the material plan and the production plan are built together, long-lead parts are identified at quotation stage, and a schedule that is committed is a schedule the factory can hold.
What stays with the customer
Design ownership stays with the customer. Gerber files, schematics and BOMs are held for the project only, under access control, and are not disclosed to third parties or reused for other customers. A confidentiality agreement is signed where one is required. What the customer outsources is manufacturing engineering and production, not the product itself.
Turnkey vs Consigned PCBA: Who Supplies the Material
Sourcing the parts is the default, because buying through authorized channels removes counterfeit risk and takes the coordination work off the customer. It is not the only option: where a customer already holds stock, must buy through their own approved vendor list, or needs to control a specific part themselves, the material can be consigned instead. Whichever route applies is stated explicitly in the quotation, so there is no ambiguity later about who owns a shortage or a delay.
What is consigned PCBA?
Consigned PCBA is the arrangement where the customer supplies the material and the manufacturer carries out the build. You send the components, or the components and the bare boards, against the agreed BOM; we receive them, verify them against the same acceptance criteria applied to material we buy ourselves, hold them for the project, and assemble them into finished boards. The assembly process itself does not change. What changes is who owns the procurement relationship, the stock and the risk. Turnkey is the mirror image, and what it covers is set out earlier on this page.
Consignment is normally chosen for one of three reasons: an existing supply contract or centrally negotiated price the customer wants to keep using, a proprietary or allocated part that has to stay under the customer's own control, or stock already on the shelf that a new build can consume instead of being written down.
| Turnkey: we buy the material | Consigned: you supply the material | |
|---|---|---|
| Who sources the parts | Kilandu, against your BOM, through authorized and franchised channels | You, through your own approved vendor list or from stock you already hold |
| Who carries price and allocation risk | We do. Price movement between quotation and material release sits on our side, and allocation is managed inside the material plan | You do. The price you paid is the price in the build, and any allocation falls on your side of the order |
| Incoming inspection | Every lot is inspected before release to production, with anti-counterfeit verification | Material is inspected on receipt, and anything that fails is reported back before the line starts |
| Excess and obsolete material | The ordering quantity is ours to plan; an unused balance is raised with you rather than absorbed silently | It stays yours: the balance remains your property and is returned or held at your instruction |
| What it does to lead time | Set by the slowest part in our material plan | Set by when the material reaches us; the assembly slot is booked against the confirmed receipt date |
| What it does to the price | One material line, with sourcing and inspection inside it | Material sits outside the quotation, which then covers fabrication, assembly, test and one-time items |
When is each model the right choice?
Turnkey is the better fit when the programme is still moving: a new design, a prototype or a pilot transfer into production, a BOM containing parts on allocation or with long lead times, or a team without a procurement function that can chase shortages and manage incoming inspection. It is also the simpler choice when the delivery date matters more than extracting the last point of material cost, because one supplier owns the material plan and the production date together.
Consignment is the better fit when the sourcing already sits with the customer: a negotiated supply contract worth keeping, a part that has to come through an approved vendor list, or stock already held that a new build can consume. It suits a stable, repeating build where the customer's own team can absorb the material planning and the shortage risk, and where that control is worth more than the coordination work it brings back.
Can a build be part turnkey and part consigned?
Yes, and in practice most consignment here is partial rather than total. A customer will consign the parts where it holds the contract or the control, such as an allocated semiconductor, a specific connector, or a part its own supply agreement covers, and let us buy the passives, the bare boards and everything else. Ownership is then assigned line by line on the BOM, and the same line-by-line split is what appears in the quotation, so there is no later disagreement about which side is chasing a shortage. Partial consignment keeps the customer's control where it matters and still leaves one supplier responsible for the rest of the material plan and the assembly date.
Quality system and traceability
Every board carries a lot-level record that ties the finished assembly back to the component lots, the reflow profile, the inspection results and the test outcome, so a question raised months later is answered from production data rather than memory. The certified systems and acceptance classes, and how that record is held, are set out on the quality assurance page.
What turnkey does not cover
Being clear about the boundary saves time at both ends. Kilandu manufactures to a customer design: PCB layout and circuit design stay with the customer, firmware and application software are not developed here, and enclosure moulding and mechanical design sit outside the scope. Where a programme needs one of those, it is said at quotation rather than discovered mid-build, and we can work alongside the customer's own design partner without taking that role over.
Lead time, quantity and file set
Typical turnkey lead time is 2 to 5 weeks from a complete file set. The binding constraint is usually component availability rather than machine time, so the schedule is built backwards from the material plan and progress is reported as tracked milestones rather than as a single percentage. Prototype and volume builds run on the same process, and there is no fixed minimum order quantity. To quote, we need the Gerber files, a BOM with manufacturer part numbers, an assembly drawing and the expected quantity; the quote requirements page explains why each item changes the price.
The capacity behind the service
Turnkey work runs on the same lines as prototype work, on a single site in Bao'an District, Shenzhen. The placement platforms, printer, inspection and reflow equipment, the monthly capacity figures and the team are listed on the factory capabilities page.
Where turnkey PCBA is used
Most turnkey programmes here are industrial rather than consumer products: industrial control boards, inverter and energy storage assemblies, automotive electronics, medical devices and EV charging equipment. The applications index lists the industries served. To start a build, send the file set to alden@kilandu.com.
What does turnkey PCBA actually cover?
PCB fabrication, component sourcing against your BOM through authorized channels, SMT placement, through-hole DIP assembly, box build where required, functional test, and packing for shipment. The customer supplies the design; everything from bare board to tested assembly is handled by one supplier.
Why choose turnkey over managing separate suppliers?
It removes the handover between suppliers, which is the usual source of schedule risk in a multi-vendor chain. It also removes the margin stacking of buying boards from one supplier, parts from another and assembly from a third. One production record covers the whole build, so a quality question has a single place to be answered.
What is the lead time and the minimum quantity?
Typical turnkey lead time is 2 to 5 weeks depending on component availability and board complexity. There is no fixed minimum order quantity, and prototype builds run on the same process as volume production so the result is representative.
Can I supply my own components?
Yes. Consignment is supported: you supply the material and we assemble it. Most overseas customers choose turnkey, because sourcing through authorized channels removes counterfeit risk and the coordination work, but the choice is yours and it is stated in the quotation either way.