Engineering Connection

You'll need engineering's support downstream so get them involved from the start. Work with your engineering team to ensure a full buy-in on the plan to outsource if this is new to your organization. Engineering needs to understand the paradigm has changed - no more fiddling with the product on the line or expecting changes to be done on the fly. If this is part of your culture, it must change before you can succeed.

Engineering's assessment of the technical and test capabilities of the CM needs to be factored in to your evaluation. This will become important particularly if design changes are made to meet yield or cost reduction goals or a critical engineering change has to be processed and you are counting on the CM's engineering team to execute these changes smoothly once your engineering team has released the change notice.

However, whatever input your engineering team provides, they cannot dictate selection of the CM. You, as the person leading the outsourcing effort, must build consensus within your organization, evaluate and weigh all the factors, make or recommended the choice, and then take on the ownership and responsibility.

Most CMs offer varying degrees of electronic or mechanical design services that can complement the skills of your in-house group. Maybe you need comprehensive engineering design services from the CM either because your current resources are tapped out, or you don't have a particular expertise in-house. In this case, a critical evaluation of the CM's engineering capabilities is necessary. Their design portfolio and customer references must be carefully assessed to judge their ability to complete projects of similar technology and complexity on time and on budget that met manufacturability, quality, and ramp-to-volume targets. The entire life-cycle of the product must be considered.