Starting a small contract assembly business, looking for advice from folks who've done this

Manufacturing
1

Hey all,

I’ve spent the last few years working in sales and manufacturing operations at a small meter-base surge protective device manufacturer in North Idaho, and I’m in the early stages of starting a contract electronics assembly business on the side, focused on low-to-mid volume through-hole and mixed-technology work (the kind of volume that’s often too small for the big EMS players but more than a lot of small product companies want to handle in-house).

I’d love to hear from anyone here who’s either run a small CM shop, worked with one as a customer, or has been through this kind of build-out themselves. A few things I’m chewing on:

  • How did you find your first few clients when you had no track record yet?
  • Any lessons learned (the hard way or otherwise) about equipment investment timing, i.e. how did you decide when it made sense to buy vs. wait for volume to justify it?
  • For those who’ve been on the customer side: what actually made you trust a small/new CM enough to place an order with them?

Not trying to sell anything here, genuinely just looking to learn from people who’ve been through it or are going through it now. Appreciate any thoughts, war stories, or even just things you wish someone had told you starting out.

Thanks in advance!

1 Like
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Hi Wade! Thanks for posting, and best of luck with your new venture. It sounds like you’re asking the right questions early on.

A couple of general suggestions that apply to almost any manufacturing startup:

  • Start with the equipment you truly need and let customer demand drive additional investments.
  • Focus on quality, communication, and reliability. For many customers, those factors matter just as much as price.
  • Document your processes early, even when you’re small. Good documentation and consistency help build customer confidence as you grow.

Since SierraConnect is hosted by a privately owned PCB fabrication and assembly company, you may not find many contract manufacturers or competing EMS providers active on this forum. Most of our members are PCB designers and electrical engineers looking for technical design advice rather than discussions around running an EMS business.

That said, we wish you the best of luck with your journey, and we hope you’ll stick around for the technical PCB design and manufacturing discussions!