What’s a good way to get a small custom electronic device designed and manufactured?

Budget is of course a major concern when you need to get a custom electronic device manufactured. First the NRE expense to design and prototype the product, and even more so the cost of manufacturing the device. In this post I’ll give the pro’s and con’s of the various ways to lower your cost to manufacture your custom electronic device.

In these days of globalization and auction sites, it would seem a smart idea to first ask ten design firms to bid on designing your custom product. Next, take the resulting design, and ask ten factories to bid on manufacturing your bespoke electronic device.

But alas, in reality, it is not nearly as easy as it sounds.