Part consignment
Frequently asked questions and requirements for consigning parts to CircuitHub, including attrition quantities, material identification, packaging, and shipping.
What is part consignment?
- If you have received an email with consignment information or have a consignment tab on your order page, this means you have signaled the intent to consign one or multiple parts for your order - that is, you have indicated that you will be responsible for the purchasing of these parts and will send them to Circuithub. We will not purchase these on your behalf as with other non-consigned parts. If you did not intend to consign a part, get in touch ASAP so we can be sure to get all your parts on order.
Can I consign a full parts kit?
- The short answer is no, CircuitHub is not set up to deal with fully consigned kits. Please see Intent of consigning parts for more information.
How many of each part should I consign?
- Send at least the Quantity shown for each part on the Consignments tab of your order page. When we ask for spares, the Quantity includes them and the line below it shows how many. If there is no such line, send extras as in Supplying Extra Parts below, which also explains how we work them out.
What is the deadline for consigning parts?
- The sooner the better, view the consignments tab on your order page for the latest deadline.
Can you hold onto my consigned parts for future orders?
- Absolutely, this is the default for any excess stock left over. If you'd like it returned, please let us know on the order page.
What if some of my consigned parts are already in stock at CircuitHub?
- You don't need to tell us. Once we have checked our stock, the Consignments tab on your order page shows, for each part, whether parts you sent us before already cover it or how many more to send. If everything is covered, there is nothing to send.
Can I ship multiple orders parts in one shipment?
- Yes this is no problem, simply add the tracking number to all orders and put each order's packing slip in the box, so it is clear which parts belong to which order.
How can I indicate that the consigned parts need special treatment?
- If your parts need any sort of special treatment (ie. pre-baking, on cut-tape), you need to notify our team via the Issues tab on the order page.
Supplying Extra Parts (Dealing With Attrition)
Surface Mount
All surface mount material should be supplied in continuous tape. There may be additional fees for repackaging material into tape and reels if it is not supplied on a continuous piece of tape or in a standard JEDEC tray. This applies to loose parts, parts in tubes, and multiple pieces of cut tape.
How many extra parts we ask for
Pick-and-place machines lose a few parts in every build, so we ask for spares on top of the parts your boards use. We work them out the same way as for parts we buy ourselves, from how the part is mounted, its package size and its typical distributor price. When no distributor sells a part, we treat it as expensive.
Spares are worked out per part, across every line of your order that uses it, and percentages are rounded up. When a part is used on several lines, the Consignments tab shares its spares between them.
Surface mount and mixed-mount parts:
| Typical price | Package | Spares |
|---|---|---|
| Under about $0.70 | 01005, 0201, 0402 | 10% of the build, at least 50, at most 300 |
| Under about $0.70 | 0603, 0805 | 10% of the build, at least 25, at most 250 |
| Under about $0.70 | Other packages | 5% of the build, at least 10, at most 100 |
| About $0.70 to $3.50 | Any | 2% of the build, at least 5, at most 100 |
| About $3.50 to $7 | Any | 2% of the build, at least 2, at most 25 |
| About $7 or more | Any | 1 for up to 10 parts, 2 up to 50, 3 up to 500, 5 up to 1000, then 10 |
Through-hole parts:
| Typical price | Spares |
|---|---|
| Under about $0.70 | 5% of the build, at least 3, at most 100 |
| About $0.70 to $3.50 | 2% of the build, at least 2, at most 50 |
| About $3.50 to $7 | 2% of the build, at least 1, at most 25 |
| About $7 or more | None for up to 10 parts, 1 up to 50, 2 up to 500, 3 up to 1000, then 5 |
If an expensive part can only be sent in the exact count, tell us on the Issues tab of your order page before you ship it.
Price Breaks
Here's a quick tip. Look for price breaks when purchasing material. Although you may only need a small volume of components, it is often cheaper (especially for caps and resistors) to buy more than you need, saving both money and providing us parts to account for wastage.
A Note About Insufficient Attrition
If we do not receive enough extra material, we will still build your assemblies to the best of our abilities but we will complete the assemblies short of whatever material we run out of. In other words, you will receive assemblies with missing parts. We will communicate all of this to you when this happens of course.
Material Identification
When you send us your materials, it is an absolute requirement that the materials and the shipment itself is clearly labeled with all of the necessary information. If it is not, then we will not know who the material belongs to and you may only hear from us once we're concerned that your material never arrived.
Identifying Individual Part Numbers
Each part number should be in its own separate package, be it a reel, a bag, a tray, or a tube. Each package of components should be clearly marked with the specific manufacturer's part number. This should match your BOM exactly. For the sake of our sanity, please do not write a partial part number on the package. Write the full and complete part number as we are expecting to identify it. If you have a cross (a part number that's equivalent to what we need but not the exact same manufacturer's part number) please communicate this to us ahead of time.
Distributors will often put a manufacturer's part number on their label. In this case, so long as that label is clear and legible, their label will work great. Here is an example from Digikey. These work really well.
Part number clearly identified
Packaging
All material should come in a qualified package. We cannot accept parts that are loosely packaged. Many (nearly all) electronic component are extremely fragile and will get damaged in transit to our factory. Parts must come in one of 4 ways
- Tape and Reel - cut tape is perfectly acceptable
- Tube (additional fees may apply) - the tubes should be sized appropriately for the part and all of the parts in the tube should be facing the same direction. Please do not put parts in the tube 180 degrees (opposite) from other parts. Most times tubes will need to be repackaged into tape and reel and additional fees could apply for parts sent to us in tubes.
- Trays (additional fees may apply) - the tray should be designed specifically for the component. There should be a mating tray of the same type keeping the components stationary in the tray. We have seen some trays come in with a piece of cardboard taped to the top of the tray in an attempt to keep the component in the tray. This will not work. Every time we've seen this done, we've seen many if not all of the components get damaged. If the trays are not standard JEDEC trays, additional fees may apply for repackaging these for pick and place machines.
- Other package - if the components you have are expensive and you only have them loose with no means of repackaging them, then we'd recommend buying some type of purpose built ESD container that will make sure the components don't get damaged in transit. Something like this would probably work well. But please let us know ahead of time when you are sending components like this. We need to be prepared because our machines cannot pick from anything that is not cut tape or JEDEC trays. It will require we come up with a custom tray solution to pick these components from. We don't mind doing this for especially expensive components.
Useful containers for very expensive loose components.
Packing Slip
A completed packing slip must be inside every box. Print it with the Print packing slip button on the Consignments tab of your order page. The slip names your order and project and lists each consigned part with the quantity we need. Before you seal the box:
- Write the exact quantity you are sending next to each part.
- Fill in the tracking number (already printed on the slip if you use our prepaid label), who packed the box, and the date.
This lets our receiving team match the box to your order and check every part against it. We might not be able to process deliveries without a completed packing slip.
Identifying The Package
If you use our prepaid label, it already carries our address and your order; just stick it on the box. Otherwise, the attention line of the address should read as follows. You can find this information in the Consignments tab of your Order Page.
re: username/order#
Worthington Assembly Inc.
14 Industrial Drive East
South Deerfield, MA 01373
United States
Shipping labels, fees and import duties
For orders shipping to the United States, you can create a prepaid UPS Next Day Air label on the Consignments tab of your order page while we are waiting for your parts. One label is included with your order:
- Confirm your ship-from address and create the label.
- Print the label and the packing slip.
- Ship all your consigned parts in one box, with the label on the outside and the completed packing slip inside.
If you need a new label, contact us and we will cancel the current one so you can create another.
Orders shipping outside the United States do not get a prepaid label: the sender pays shipping fees. If parts are purchased by us from an international vendor the sender will also be responsible for all duties and taxes.