Many component suppliers work extremely hard to get into certain companies as approved suppliers. Playing the “pretty salesperson card” is a common tactic—while engineers may appreciate it, most of the time it still doesn’t open the door. So where does the problem really lie? And how should sales actually approach this? This article looks at the topic of becoming a 2nd-source supplier purely from an engineer’s point of view. In reality, things can be even more complicated.
As an engineer, Workingbear has to be honest—I really don’t like doing second-source qualification work. It’s time-consuming, stressful, and often thankless. If you do it well, management thinks it’s just part of your job. If it takes too long, they think you’re being difficult on purpose. And if any issue shows up later, they question your ability—“Why didn’t you catch this earlier?”
BOMs, AML/AVL, and MPNs are essentially the “recipe” behind electronics manufacturing. All of these terms are closely related to a product’s material list. Understanding what they mean is not difficult—the real challenge is knowing how to apply them effectively to achieve proper material control within a company.
For many people who are new to the electronics manufacturing and assembly industry, BOM and ECO are two very important terms—but also two of the most confusing ones. In this article, I’ll try to explain these concepts in a simple and easy-to-understand way.
When Workingbear first entered the electronics manufacturing industry, hearing the term “BOM” for the first time was confusing. Workingbear honestly thought it had something to do with “bombing” (don’t laugh 😄). “ECO” was even more confusing—though it was obviously not the “ECO-Navi” energy-saving mode often seen in air conditioner ads or car commercials.
TAL (Time Above Liquidus) refers to the amount of time during the SMT reflow process when the solder material (such as solder paste) is above its liquidus temperature. You can think of it like ice melting into water and then freezing again—the time in between is the “liquid” phase. This period is a critical parameter in reflow soldering because it determines whether the solder paste fully melts and properly wets the pads and component leads to form good solder joints. In soldering, joint quality is largely judged by wetting performance.
