Stop Juggling Suppliers: The Case for Full Turnkey PCB Assembly
For many product designers and electronics manufacturers in the UK, the excitement of a new project often collides with a wall of administrative reality: the Bill of Materials (BOM).
You have finalised your schematic and perfected your layout. But before a single component can be soldered, you face the logistical mountain of procurement. If your board has 50 distinct line items, that could mean dealing with five or six different distributors, raising dozens of purchase orders, and tracking multiple deliveries.
This traditional model, often called "Free Issue" or consignment, where you buy the parts and send them to the manufacturer, has long been the standard for smaller runs. However, as supply chains become more complex and time becomes more expensive, smart businesses are switching to a Full Turnkey PCB Assembly model.
Here is why letting First Choice Assembly handle your procurement is not just a convenience—it is a strategic financial decision.
The "Free Issue" Trap: It Costs More Than You Think
On the surface, Free Issue seems like the thrifty option. You shop around, find the cheapest price for every capacitor and IC, and ship a "kit" to your assembler. It feels like you are in control.
But have you calculated the true cost of that control?
The Administrative Burden
Every part you source requires a Purchase Order (PO), an invoice reconciliation, and a delivery check. If your BOM has 100 lines, your procurement team (or often, your lead engineer) is spending hours perhaps days acting as a logistics clerk rather than focusing on innovation. That is expensive engineering time spent on low-value admin.The "One Resistor" Nightmare
In the world of PCB Assembly, you cannot finish the puzzle if a piece is missing. Imagine you have spent weeks gathering components. You send the kit to the assembly house, only to find that a reel of 10p resistors was short-shipped by your distributor, or the wrong footprint was ordered. Production stops. The machines sit idle. You now have to pay for express shipping to get that 10p part to the factory. The line downtime costs far more than the component ever did.
Goods-In and Kitting
When you buy the parts, you are responsible for inspecting them. Do you have the facilities to check moisture sensitivity levels on ICs? Do you have the time to count strip lengths? When you supply the kit, the liability for shortages or damaged components sits squarely with you.
What is Turnkey PCB Assembly?
Turnkey assembly is the "hands-off" alternative. You send us your Gerber files and your BOM. We do the rest.
At First Choice Assembly, our Full Turnkey service means we take total responsibility for the entire lifecycle:
Sourcing: We locate the components from our network of trusted suppliers.
Procurement: We handle the purchasing and logistics.
Assembly: We perform the full PCB Assembly using our surface mount and through-hole capabilities.
Testing: We verify the build before shipping the finished unit to you.
You raise one PO. You receive one invoice. You get a fully built, tested product delivered to your door.
The Strategic Advantages of Going Turnkey
Why are so many UK technology firms migrating to this model in 2025? It comes down to efficiency, buying power, and expertise.
Leverage Our Buying Power
As a specialist manufacturer, we buy millions of components every year. We have established relationships and credit lines with major global distributors and niche suppliers. While you might pay the "one-off" price for a processor, we can often leverage volume pricing or negotiated rates. Frequently, the markup a manufacturer adds for sourcing is completely offset by the savings they achieve on the component costs. You essentially get the procurement service for free, simply by virtue of our economies of scale.Obsolescence Management
The electronics component market is volatile. Parts go "End of Life" (EOL) without much warning. When you manage your own BOM, you might not realise a critical chip is obsolete until you try to order it. By then, your design is frozen. When you partner with First Choice Assembly for your PCB Assembly, our team reviews your BOM before we build. We use sophisticated database tools to check the lifecycle status of every part. If a part is becoming obsolete, we can alert you immediately and suggest a drop-in replacement, saving you from a costly redesign later down the line.Eliminate "Wastage" Costs
In the Free Issue model, you have to buy according to the distributor’s pack sizes. If you need 400 chips but they come in reels of 1,000, you have to buy 1,000. You are left with 600 chips sitting on a shelf, tying up cash flow. With Turnkey services, we manage the inventory. You generally only pay for what ends up on your board (plus necessary attrition). We hold the common stock, so you don't have to.
Focus on What You Do Best
Your competitive advantage lies in your intellectual property, your design, your firmware, and your market strategy. It does not lie in counting bags of capacitors.
By outsourcing the procurement process, you free up your internal resources. Your engineers can focus on the next generation of products, and your finance team can process a single streamlined invoice rather than dozens of petty cash receipts.
Streamline Your Supply Chain
There is a reason it is called "Turnkey"; it unlocks a simpler, faster route to market.
At First Choice Assembly, we have the networks, the ESD-safe storage facilities, and the procurement experts to manage your BOM better than anyone else. Whether you need a rapid prototype or a large-scale production run, our Turnkey PCB Assembly service is designed to take the weight off your shoulders.
Stop juggling suppliers. Let us handle the logistics so you can handle the innovation.
Ready to simplify your manufacturing process? Visit our PCB Assembly page to learn more about our Full Turnkey solutions.
