In product development, timing is everything. But too often, the flexible circuit comes late in the conversation, added after mechanical constraints are set, the enclosure is locked, and the clock is already ticking. That’s where problems start.
At PICA Manufacturing Solutions, we’ve seen time and again how early collaboration between your team and our engineers can save weeks of redesign, reduce cost, and improve product reliability. If you’re building a product that includes flex, rigid-flex, or FFC interconnects, here’s why you should bring us in early, ideally before your layout is even started.
1. We Can Help Translate the Product Vision Into a Manufacturable Design
You know what the product needs to do—but translating that into a flex circuit that fits, folds, routes, and assembles cleanly is a unique challenge. Our engineering team can help with:
• Material selection for flexibility, heat, or chemical exposure
• Stackup suggestions to meet bend, impedance, or shielding requirements
• Panel fit and nesting recommendations to improve yield and reduce cost
• Connector guidance based on available space and motion requirements
Waiting until after mechanical or industrial design is locked in can limit your options—and lead to multiple painful revision cycles.
Case Study:
Industry: Express company
Application: Drone delivery
Opportunity: There are many FPC cables on drones, which achieve physical connection and signal transmission through connectors on FPCA. To meet the reliability requirements of the product, it is necessary to perform high level assembly on the connectors of the FPC. Currently, the method used is a plastic shell and base, which is costly and has poor sealing performance.
Solution: PICA Engineers reviewed the current design, gained a clear understanding of the issues, while also having a clear understanding of their needs. According to engineer’s experience, PICA recommended the connector overmolding process to the customers, which can form a tight sealing layer on the surface of electronic components, meeting the requirements of product use in harsh environments. Moreover, this structure is compact, has high mechanical strength, and can reduce costs.
Common issues we help prevent include:
• Trace routing across tight bends (which causes fatigue failures)
• Incorrect copper grain direction for dynamic flex zones
• Pads or components in fold areas
• Rigid sections that interfere with bend motion
• Overly tight bend radii that can crack traces
Catching these issues before layout is far cheaper than discovering them after prototyping.
Case Study:
Industry: Consumer electronics
Application: Wearable products
Opportunity: The problem encountered by the customer is that the current product has tears at the U-shaped groove position, which damages the internal circuit and causes the product function failure. And there are obvious cracks on the circuit, suspecting ED copper and panel plating are used on the FPC fabrication.
Solution: Our engineers disassembled the defective products provided by the customer and found that the FPC did not add anti-tear trace at the U-shaped groove position. In addition, our engineers suggested using 18um RA copper + button plating to make FPC more flexibly and easy to bend application.
If cost is important, and it usually is, we can help you avoid:
• Over-engineering (e.g. adding more layers or shielding than needed)
• Under-engineering (e.g. too-thin copper or unsupported stackups)
• Missed opportunities to combine designs for better panel utilization
• Expensive rework caused by incompatible connectors or finishes
Getting a quote too late often means you’re locked into a design that’s more expensive than it needs to be.
Case Study:
Industry: OEM in Automotive
Application: Lithium Ion Battery
Opportunity: PICA has an opportunity to evaluate battery PACK design for a battery supplier, the product involves FPC assembly, metal stamping, plastic molding and final assembly, and the customer requests low-cost. In the customer's original design, nickel tabs are assembled onto FPC, then a protective film is laminated to the nickel tab to increase the bonding strength between the nickel tab and FPC.
Solution: PICA evaluated the customer's FPC design, it requires twice cover film lamination and twice solder printing, which will increase material and labor costs. Our suggestion to the customer is to apply adhesive on the nickel tab to ensure the bonding strength between the nickel tab and FPC, while only using one layer of cover film lamination and one layer of solder printing, while.
Every manufacturer has specific tooling, panel sizes, lamination cycles, and processing capabilities. If your design aligns with our process from the beginning, we can:
• Reduce lead times
• Avoid special handling
• Minimize scrap
• Improve yield
And if you’re planning to scale production, this alignment becomes even more important.
5. You’ll Get to Market Faster
Time lost to avoidable revisions, redesigns, or back-and-forths adds up fast. When we’re involved early:
• Your design gets validated faster
• Manufacturing data is generated smoothly
• Prototypes ship sooner
• Production ramps with fewer surprises
Even one conversation during early design can shave weeks off your development cycle.
Final Thoughts
Your flex circuit isn’t just another component—it’s a core part of how your product powers up, folds, moves, or communicates. And like any critical component, it deserves a seat at the table early in the process.
At PICA Manufacturing Solutions, we’re ready to work with you from the first napkin sketch to final production. Our team combines engineering know-how with real-world manufacturing experience to help you design smarter, build faster, and launch with confidence.
Let’s build it right the first time. Talk to us early.