FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is an NRE?  An NRE is a non-recurring engineering charge to cover the cost of designing and developing new carrier tape.  Over the decades, we have seen that 95% of the tooling we make is used less than 5 times and we do not recover the cost of tooling until we run approximately 50,000 meters of tape. 

What is a minimum lot charge?  The minimum lot charge covers the basic minimal costs to process a job.  It is the minimum charge for the work quoted.  When the work required exceeds the minimum lot charge, the charge is based on the per piece price.  We established a minimum lot charge because even jobs that have 25, 10 or even 1 part, still requires us to review the PO, receive it in and enter it into the database, pull the tape, schedule and assign the job, process it, inspect it, package, label and ship it.  It also covers the cost of utilities, the building, wages, maintenance, ISO, and all the other cost incurred. 

What is a set up charge?  Set up charges cover the cost to perform a special process that is required for a job.  Whether it is making carrier tape that we normally do not stock, to setting up specific equipment to process your order.

What are default standards?  Everything we process can be traced back to some standard.  Unfortunately, even for something like Surface Mount Tape and Reeling, there are 3 main standards throughout the world.  To avoid confusion and help make sure your expectations are met, we specify the standard we will use to process your work in the absence of other instructions from you that we acknowledge and agree to.  So, if you’re not sure what you need other than tape and reel, you can rest easy knowing that we will always adhere to the applicable default standard.