Requirements checklist
What to ask for when choosing software for electronic product manufacturers.
A checklist built from how electronic product manufacturers work, to print or save as a PDF and bring to any supplier meeting.
What the software should cover
Tick each one that matters to your business.
- Model master and bills of materials
- SMT run and line records
- Reel and moisture-sensitive part control
- Test jig, ageing and final check
- Packing, barcodes and carton counts
- Dealer, brand and distributor orders
- Warranty and dead-on-arrival returns
Roles that need their own access
Who logs in, and what each person may see or change.
- For owners and plant managers
- For production planners
- For line supervisors and operators
- For the quality and service teams
- For purchasing and stores
Reports to ask for
Ask to see each one with your own sample data.
- Runs by model, line and shift, with boards in, out and rejected
- First-pass test yield by jig and by model
- Opened dry bags and parts held for baking
- Returns by date code, fault and supplier lot
- Packed and dispatched quantities against each dealer order
- Component cost against selling price by model
- Outside assembly receipts and defect counts
Systems it may need to connect to
Note which ones you already run.
- Barcode and label printers
- Optical inspection and test jig logs
- SMS or WhatsApp
- Accounting export
- Courier tracking
Questions for any vendor
Put these to every supplier you are comparing.
- How do colour and plug variants work?
- Is the floor life of opened moisture-sensitive parts tracked?
- How does a return lead back to a production run?
- Can it print carton labels with barcodes?
- Does it work with an outside SMT assembler?
- What about brand-specific packing instructions?
- Is a model costed before an order is accepted?
- How long does it take to learn on the line?
- What happens to our records if we leave?
Where the work usually breaks today
Circle the ones you recognise. They set the order of the project.
- Line yield is known only at month end
- Moisture-sensitive parts expire unnoticed
- A returned charger has no run behind it
- Brand and dealer orders change often
- Component prices move faster than quotations
Prefer to talk it through? See the electronic product manufacturers page.