Turnkey assembly
Turnkey assembly is a full-service PCBA model where the supplier handles everything: bare board fabrication, component sourcing, assembly, inspection, and delivery. The customer supplies design files and receives finished, tested boards — a single commercial counterparty for the whole build.
What it is
In a turnkey assembly engagement, the supplier takes responsibility for the entire production chain. The customer provides design files (Gerber, BOM, pick and place file) and approves the quote; the supplier sources every component, fabricates the bare PCB, assembles, inspects, and ships the finished boards. Some turnkey services also handle testing, programming, and packaging.
The alternative is consigned (or "kitted") assembly, where the customer sources and supplies all components and the assembly house only provides labour and equipment. A third model, partial turnkey, splits responsibility — the customer supplies hard-to-source or long-lead-time parts while the supplier handles the rest.
Turnkey shifts component sourcing risk from the customer to the supplier. If a part goes end-of-life, has a lead time issue, or arrives counterfeit, the supplier handles it. Consigned shifts that risk back to the customer but eliminates supplier markup on components.
When it matters
The choice affects cost, risk, and lead time. Turnkey is typically faster and lower-effort for prototypes, low volume, and customers without dedicated procurement teams. Consigned can be cheaper at high volumes where the customer has strategic component agreements and can absorb the management overhead. For European hardware teams with mixed component sourcing capabilities, partial turnkey is often the pragmatic middle path — supplier handles standard parts, customer supplies anything specialised or critical.
Comparison
Some suppliers offer partial turnkey where responsibility is split per component category.
At Nordic PCB
We operate as turnkey by default. You submit Gerber, BOM, and pick and place files; we source every component from authorised European distributors, fabricate the bare board, assemble, inspect to IPC-A-610, and ship as a single order. Partial turnkey is available on request — useful when you want to supply specific components yourself while we handle the rest. One Danish ApS counterparty handles the commercial side regardless of which suppliers are involved.
Related terms
- PCBA
PCBA (Printed Circuit Board Assembly) is the process of populating a bare PCB with electronic components — resistors, capacitors, ICs, connectors, and other parts — to produce a functional electronic assembly ready for testing or integration into a finished product.
- BOM
A BOM (Bill of Materials) is the structured list of every component needed to build a PCB, mapping reference designators on the board to specific manufacturer parts. It is one of the three core files — alongside Gerber and pick and place — required to quote and assemble a PCBA.
- Pick and place file
A pick and place file (also called centroid file, CPL, or XY data) is a machine-readable list of every component's position, rotation, and board side. It is one of the three core files — alongside Gerber and BOM — needed to quote and run PCB assembly.
- Authorised distributor
An authorised distributor (also called franchised distributor) has a contractual agreement with the original component manufacturer to stock and sell their parts. Examples include Digi-Key, Mouser, Farnell, RS Components, and Arrow. Components sourced from authorised distributors come with full traceability and no counterfeit risk — unlike brokers or independent distributors.
- Lead time
Lead time is the elapsed time from order placement to delivery. For PCBs and PCBA, total lead time includes bare board fabrication (typically 5-15 days), component sourcing (instant to many weeks depending on availability), assembly (3-10 days), and shipping. The longest single component lead time usually drives the overall project lead time.