So you’ve got a small or micro part and your existing supplier is scratching his head? Its a common problem worldwide, but your chosen supplier for a micro component may not be (and likely isn’t) the one you turn to for conventional or macro components. Why? They are probably not equipped for it in many ways. As a general rule, I would suggest starting with a supplier that has made parts or several parts with similar features to the ones you require and in a similar material than you need it. At the very least, they should have made similar size and tolerance parts.

Where Do I Start?

Once you have found the supplier that has manufactured parts in the same size, tolerance and — if you are really fortunate — in the same material that you require, you are now ready to put them through the paces of supplier selection.

If your project allows (financially and program management-wise), it is preferred to select multiple paths or multiple suppliers. This allows you to choose who is most responsive, who is best suited engineering staff-wise to assist, and who gets you to the gate the fastest. You may also keep a record of this in spreadsheet format so that the supplier “report card” can be quantifiably recorded to help you with this choice.

If you are not able to parallel path the development, this same process can be performed during the quoting stage. Who responded quickly to your RFQ, who gave you the most information that helped with your particular program, who provided professional, fast, service with data sharing? That supplier is most likely going to remain that way through the build stage of the programme as well.

Suppliers that have tackled micro manufacturing have had the experience of designing, building, and validating micro components, and this experience took quite a bit of time and effort. Reinventing the micro wheel is a lengthy undertaking for developing a micro part or assembly, and most don’t have the time to develop that cycle within their own product development cycle.

Open Communication

A good micro manufacturing supplier openly shares data with its customers so everyone completely understands the development cycle and how the part and material will react in their application. Closed doors and wizardly curtains give little access to truly understanding the process, the material, and the people who are the cogs in the wheel to micro program success. These suppliers have design of experiment (DOE) data, thermal imaging analysis, fluid flow analysis, and statistical software with engineering and research staff that understand it and can explain it in layman’s terms to their customers and all of the members of the project team. This data is critical to your understanding of your product and how it is made.

Staff

The supplier checklist should include the engineering and research staff capabilities. These capabilities shine through even on the initial RFQ. Did you get to meet the engineering staff during the RFQ? Did you get a feel for their capabilities in the area of validating your product all the way through design to high volume production? Good engineering staff have the ability to quantify and communicate through data and factual information. The engineering staff also have support staff such as metrology experts, customer service representatives, and financial analysts. The support staff help to choose the best validation curve, the easiest way to communicate results to the customer, and the best return on investment scenarios befitting the application.

Tooling / Fixtures

With tooling and fixtures being the catalyst to making micro components, it is critical to have internal tooling and/or external tooling partner capabilities to design, manufacture, and maintain the micro tooling components. These tooling components need to last for the full depreciation of the program (typically 5-7 years). In order for slices and hair sized tooling components to last for the long haul, they need to be properly designed, maintained, and validated along with all of the spare components during the initial validation and clinical trial design verification stages.

Equipment

Choosing a supplier with the correct equipment to do the job is very high on the list. If all of the equipment in the manufacturing space is designed for larger parts, this should be a flag right away. Micro manufacturers invest in micro manufacturing and the best way to service their customers. This includes buying the machine with the smallest resolution scales on the market to keep scrap low, process control under control, and the accuracy of the product possible.

It is not uncommon for micro manufacturers to have “tweaked” equipment available on the market to fit their needs. For example, the smallest micro moulded shot size available commercially is 3.0 grams and this is much higher than is required for a part that is 0.0001grams. For this reason, injection units are redesigned and remanufactured on a custom scale to ensure the material feeding in matches what is required for the part being made.

Metrology

Countless articles have been written on this subject, and metrology is often the most challenging aspect of designing and manufacturing micro components. ‘You can’t make it if you can’t measure it” is a resounding theme resulting from many trade shows and conferences for micro and nano manufacturing. If products require micron tolerances, the metrology equipment must be designed to measure at the sub-micron level to accurately reflect the gage R&R required for proper validation protocol. Measuring in anything less than this will add error to the measurement and in many cases up to 50% error. This error can then get fed back into the troubleshooting curve and the vicious circle of doom of processing, measuring, and meeting upon meeting, delay upon delay, statistical analysis upon statistical analysis starts to happen, which can kill a micro programme in its tracks.

If the data isn’t telling you what you need it to tell you, and your error in measurement is too large, validation is not possible. Obtaining a supplier with a temperature controlled, properly equipped metrology lab can lead you to validation success.

Consultancy

Hiring an experienced micro manufacturing consultant is a good way to get a jump start on all aspects of micro manufacturing. Many have had multiple experiences with many materials, the diverse perspective of working with multiple micro manufacturing suppliers in global locations, and have solved metrology issues associated with micro manufacturing. A micro manufacturing consultant’s tool belt consists of gaining access through conferences and technical events to obtain the recent technology trends that will help their customers now and into the future. Technology changes quickly and updated technology helps consultants to help their customers stay ahead of the technology curve.

Confidentiality is a consultant’s most revered trait, and their reputation and business depends on the secrecy agreements they have with their customers. Their direct and immediate goal centres around the micro component or assembly project at hand and their only focus is the success of the programme they were hired for.

In these economic times, consultants are an economical solution as they do not add overhead with benefits, and they can be hired specifically for a program, do that job and then aren’t part of the fixed overhead after the project is complete.

Global

In a global world where there are ten different places to get a cup of coffee on your street, the micro manufacturing world is also adapting to the portable manufacturing era. Even though parts can be shipped via overnight carrier, users of micro components need their parts near to them so they don’t have to wait a day for shipment. Their ideas happen quickly and often they need the ability to assemble their ideas quickly into micro products they can see, feel, touch, and test quickly. For this reason, micro suppliers are occupying space in countries where their products are manufactured to truly partner with their customers.

Conclusion

In any economy, getting to the finish line quicker and more productively than your competition is extremely important. In a down economy, it is critical to use research and development dollars wisely. Choosing a supplier and a consultant to assist in these times is critical to the development path. Tough times call for tough measures, and the measure of micro success calls for tough suppliers who have what it takes to get a micro program up and running quickly and accurately. Your company’s 2009 micro research and development programs count on your decisions to choose the best suppliers possible to do the job.

Donna Bibber is President/CEO of Micro Engineering Solutions, a solutions-based company serving small to Fortune 50 companies. She is also technical partner for microPEP, a full service micro manufacturing company. She has written and lectured hundreds of technical papers on micro manufacturing associated topics worldwide and was recently voted onto the List of 100 Notable People in Medical Devices for 2008.