FlowMarket
Where to find PCB manufacturing and assembly: FlowMarket is a B2B sourcing network powered by an AI agent. You describe the board — layer count, material, finish, IPC class, whether it needs populating, and the volume — and the agent matches you with fabricators and EMS providers set up for that work, then requests quotes and lead times so you can compare them in one place.
Sourcing boards and assembly
The first thing to settle is what you are actually buying, because "PCB" covers two different purchases. A bare board is a commodity with a well-defined spec: send the data, get a price, and the main variables are layer count, material and finish. An assembled board is a manufacturing programme, and most of its cost and nearly all of its risk sit in the components rather than the laminate.
Suppliers split along the same line. Some are fabricators, some are assembly houses, some do both, and a prototype shop turning ten boards in three days is a different business from an EMS provider running ten thousand a month. Saying which you need — and at what volume — is what stops the enquiry going to the wrong half of the market.
What a fabricator needs to quote properly
- Layer count and stackup — not just the number of layers but the intended stackup, especially if anything is impedance controlled. Leaving it to the fab means they choose, and your impedance may not survive.
- Material — standard FR-4 covers most work; high-Tg for lead-free assembly and thermal cycling; specialist laminates for RF. Naming a material you do not need is a common and expensive habit.
- Surface finish — HASL is cheap and fine for through-hole and coarse pitch; ENIG is flat, shelf-stable and the default for fine pitch and BGAs. This is one of the largest single price levers on a bare board.
- IPC class — class 2 for most industrial and commercial products, class 3 where failure has consequences. Class 3 tightens acceptance across the whole process, and it costs accordingly.
- Data format — Gerber X2 or ODB++ with a drill file, fab notes and a netlist. A supplier who answers with real DFM feedback on that data is telling you something about themselves.
Turnkey or consigned
In turnkey assembly the provider buys the components as well as building the board. It removes a purchasing job, gives them control over what they can actually get, and lets them substitute quickly during a shortage — but you are buying their component margin and their alternates policy along with the assembly.
In a consigned kit you supply the parts. It is cheaper on paper and it moves the shortage risk to you: a missing line stops the build, and the assembler bills for the downtime either way. Partial turnkey, where you consign the difficult or long-lead parts and they buy the commodity ones, is what most established programmes settle into.
The BOM is the project
Nearly every assembly delay traces back to the bill of materials rather than the board. A BOM ready to quote has manufacturer part numbers on every line, approved alternates where they exist, and a clear statement of who may substitute without asking. Without that last point an assembler either stops and waits for you, or substitutes and surprises you — and both cost more than the conversation would have.
Include the assembly detail too: fine-pitch or BGA devices needing X-ray, anything moisture-sensitive, conformal coating, and whether you want functional test or only automated optical inspection. These change the quote materially and are usually discovered late.
Prototype and production are different suppliers
A prototype house optimises for turnaround: small quantities, fast data checks, few questions asked. A production supplier optimises for repeatability and will ask questions early that feel obstructive until the first thousand boards come out identical. Using the prototype supplier for production usually means paying prototype prices at volume; using the production supplier for prototypes usually means waiting.
If the programme is going to scale, say so in the enquiry. It is reasonable to prototype and produce with different suppliers, but the transfer is a real step — a new first article, possibly new stackup and process tuning — and it is cheaper to plan than to discover.
How the AI agent matches suppliers
The agent reads your requirement rather than your keywords. It searches the FlowMarket network and connected industrial directories together, scores every candidate on how well it answers what you described — bare board or assembly, layer count, IPC class, volume, geography — and drops anything that does not clear the bar. Each match comes back with a plain-language reason, which separates a fabricator from an assembly house without reading four capability pages.