Buyer questions · verified answers
Frequently Asked Questions
Twenty questions the quoting desk is asked most often, grouped into five categories. Every answer here is the answer we give on a call, including the numbers: our prototype lead times, our MOQ policy, our published yields and our Incoterms.
20 questions · 5 categories · reviewed February 2026 · desk: sales@genesiscircuits.com
Commercial · 4 Technical · 4 Quality & compliance · 4 Logistics · 4 Programme management · 4
How a quote becomes a build
Six stages from drawing to shipped assembly
The same six stages run for a one-off prototype and for a 10,000-piece programme; only the sampling plan and the amount of documentation change. NRE for the whole sequence is 150 to 500 USD per order.
Data intake and DFM
You send Gerbers, BOM and pick-and-place. We return a DFM mark-up within one working day, covering pad fit, courtyard clearance, stencil aperture ratio below 0.66 and panelisation.
Quote and material check
The quote breaks out components, placement, NRE, test and freight, and every line carries a lifecycle status. End-of-life and last-time-buy parts are flagged before you commit.
Kitting and incoming QC
Components arrive at the Penang store and pass IQC against the BOM: part marking, XRF for RoHS 3 where the supplier evidence is thin, MSL handling and reel count verification.
First article build
The pilot panel runs on one of 6 SMT lines or on a flexible high-mix line, then through one of 3 DIP and wave lines. The first article is inspected to IPC-A-610 before the batch is released.
Test and inspection
100% AOI on all SMT builds, X-Ray on every BGA and QFN, then ICT or flying probe, then functional test where the programme needs behaviour confirmed. Limits come from your test specification.
Pack, document, ship
Boards are bagged with desiccant in ESD packing, and the documentation pack goes with them: CoC, yield data, X-ray images and the AS9102 first-article report where requested.
The FAQ
Frequently asked questions, in full
Answers are grouped by the stage of the buying decision they belong to. Open any question with the keyboard or a tap; one answer stays open at a time.
Category 01
Commercial
Minimum order, the pricing model, payment terms and who ends up owning the tooling. Ranges below are typical industry bands for contract assembly, not an offer.
Zero MOQ on prototypes: we will build a single panel or a single unit. Production runs start at one panel, which is 4 to 24 boards depending on board size and how your fabricator laid the panel out. There is no tooling charge at prototype quantities, and the NRE band is 150 to 500 USD per order.
Five lines: components at cost, placement, NRE, test development and freight. Placement runs 0.005 to 0.015 USD per passive placement and 0.10 to 0.50 USD per micro-BGA. A 200-placement board therefore runs 40 to 80 USD at 1 to 5 pieces and 3 to 7 USD at 1,000 or more.
New programmes run 50% on order and 50% on shipment, which is the typical band for a first contract build. After three completed orders we move to net-30 on approved credit. Tooling and NRE are invoiced with the first order because they are consumed before production starts. All invoices are issued in USD.
You do. SMT stencils, ICT and FCT fixtures, test programs, first-article reports, AOI programs and the qualified reflow profile are your property and are stored, maintained and calibrated as your account assets. We will ship stencils or release fixture files to another manufacturer on written instruction.
Category 02
Technical
What to send, what we check before quoting, how substitutions are controlled and how the test method is chosen for your volume.
Gerber RS-274X or X2 with an NC drill file, plus ODB++ or IPC-2581 if you have it. The BOM as CSV or XLSX with manufacturer part numbers, and the pick-and-place as CSV or a native CAD export. A PDF drawing showing the stack-up and any controlled-impedance targets removes most of the remaining ambiguity.
Yes, and there is no charge for it. Every quotation carries a DFM review: pad-to-part fit, courtyard clearance, stencil aperture ratio below 0.66, thermal relief on through-hole grounds, panelisation and fiducial placement. Deviations come back as a marked-up list before the first build rather than as a query after the boards are populated.
Only with written approval. We send the proposed alternate with its datasheet, lifecycle status, package, tolerance and the price and lead-time delta, and the line holds until you answer. If a second source is already approved on your AVL we use it without a query, because that is what the AVL is for. Grey-market parts are never substituted in.
ICT is the cheaper choice above roughly 500 units a year: fixtures cost 2,000 to 50,000 USD with a 4 to 8 week development lead time, but test time per board is short. Flying probe costs about 3 to 10 USD per board with no fixture and suits prototypes. Functional test is the only method that confirms behaviour, so it is added on top of the others rather than instead of them.
Category 03
Quality & compliance
Certifications, traceability depth, restricted-substance handling and the paperwork that ships with the boards.
We are registered to ISO 9001:2015 and ISO 13485:2016, and we are audited against IATF 16949 and AS9100D requirements. Work is built to IPC-A-610 Class 2 and Class 3, J-STD-001, IPC/WHMA-A-620 and ANSI/ESD S20.20. UL and ITAR registration sit with partner facilities and are available on request. Class 3 carries a 20 to 40% cost premium over Class 2.
Every board carries a lot code that resolves to the component reel lots, the operator, the machine and the reflow profile that produced it. Programmes under IATF 16949 keep those records for 15 years; every other programme keeps digital records for at least 7 years. Paper travellers are scanned at each of the six gates.
SAC305 is our standard alloy with a 217 degrees C liquidus, so RoHS 3 is met by default; SnPb is reserved for legacy and defence programmes under an exemption. We collect REACH SVHC declarations from every component supplier, verify incoming lots with XRF, and will arrange third-party analysis where a customer needs an independent certificate for the file.
Every shipment carries a Certificate of Conformity, first-pass-yield data for the lot, first-article inspection to AS9102 where it is requested, X-ray images for each BGA and QFN, and the AOI result summary. Certificates of Analysis for the bare boards and for the solder paste come from those suppliers and travel in the same pack.
Category 04
Logistics
Incoterms, ESD packaging, transit times and the customs change that now applies to every US-bound parcel.
EXW, FOB Penang, CIF, DAP and DDP. FOB Penang is the default because it prices most cleanly, and DDP is available where a buyer needs one delivered figure for a landed-cost model. The term is fixed in the quotation and repeated on every invoice, so the risk transfer point never drifts mid-programme.
Boards go into ESD shielding bags with a desiccant sachet and a humidity indicator card, then into a moisture-barrier bag for sea freight. ESD trays or foam sit inside a double-wall carton, and each carton carries a moisture, shock and tilt label. Stack height is limited to 1.2 m and palletised loads are stretch-wrapped.
Air freight from Penang reaches North America in 3 to 6 days and Europe in 4 to 7 days door to door. Sea freight runs 3 to 5 weeks to Europe and 4 to 6 weeks to the US east coast. We issue the commercial invoice, packing list and the AWB or bill of lading within one working day of shipment.
No. Executive Order 14324, published at 90 FR 42418, ended the 800 USD de-minimis exemption for all countries, so every US shipment now needs a formal customs entry and duty is payable regardless of value. Budget the entry fee, the duty and any Section 301 line, which adds 25% on many China-origin goods, even on a small prototype consignment.
Category 05
Programme management
Lead time, engineering changes, obsolescence and what the warranty actually covers once the boards are in the field.
A simple 2-layer prototype takes 3 to 5 working days and a complex build 5 to 10 working days. Volume production runs 3 to 6 weeks after material release at typical industry rates, and the binding date is the longest component lead time in your BOM rather than the assembly line schedule. We publish 98.1% on-time delivery against that promise.
You raise an ECO against the programme and we return an impact note within two working days: material already committed, work in progress, the effect on lead time and any NRE. A BOM swap that clears the approved vendor list is absorbed into the next material release; a layout or board revision goes back through the NPI gates and gets a fresh first-article inspection.
We run a lifecycle check on every line at quotation, so an end-of-life or last-time-buy part is flagged before the first build rather than after. In production we monitor status changes and issue a product change notification with a bridge-buy quantity, a form-fit-function alternate from an authorised source, or redesign support. Bridge-buy stock is quoted at market price with the storage cost shown separately.
Workmanship and materials for 12 months from shipment, measured against IPC-A-610 Class 2 or Class 3 as agreed on the order. Confirmed defects are repaired or replaced at our cost, including the return freight. Component failures inside a supplier's own warranty window are claimed back to that supplier and we manage the claim for you.
Incoterms and trade lanes
Logistics terms and transit, term by term
Ten commercial terms in the order the quoting desk presents them, with the risk transfer point, the lane each one suits and the transit band to expect. Transit days are door to door from Bayan Lepas.
| Term | Risk transfers | Lane that suits it | Transit band |
|---|---|---|---|
| EXW Penang | At our loading dock | Buyers with their own forwarder in Malaysia | Buyer-controlled |
| FOB Penang | On board at Penang | The default for first programmes and repeat orders | 3–6 days by air to North America |
| CIF Europe | On board at Penang | Sea freight to Rotterdam, Hamburg or Felixstowe | 3–5 weeks by sea |
| DAP customer site | At the named place, not unloaded | Buyers who want one delivered figure | 4–7 days by air to Europe |
| DDP customer site | After import clearance and duty | US and EU buyers without an importer of record | 4–8 days by air, cleared |
| Air express, 1–5 pcs | Under the quoted Incoterm | Prototype and first-article shipments | 3–6 days door to door |
| Air consolidated | Under the quoted Incoterm | Low and mid volume, 50–500 boards | 5–9 days with consolidation |
| Sea LCL | Under the quoted Incoterm | Mid volume where the 3–5 week transit is acceptable | 21–35 days port to port |
| US customs entry | Importer of record named on entry | Every US shipment since the 800 USD exemption ended | Add 2–4 days for clearance |
| Section 301 duty | Importer of record | China-origin components and bare boards | 25% added to that line value |
Values are typical industry bands and published tariff rates, not a quotation. Quoted transit excludes customs holds. Duty, entry fees and Section 301 lines apply to the declared value of the goods, not to the assembly service.
