Contract Manufacturing

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Contract Manufacturing for Industrial and OEM Manufacturers: Assemblies Built, Tested, and Certified to Your Requirements

Building sub-assemblies in-house carries costs that do not always show up on a line item: technician time that could be spent on higher-value work, tooling and fixtures that have to be maintained and calibrated, inventory that has to be received, inspected, and stored, and the quality documentation that regulated industries require for every production lot.

For many manufacturers, the decision to outsource assembly is not primarily a cost decision. It is a capacity and reliability decision. The question is whether a contract manufacturer can build to spec, deliver on time, and provide the documentation the customer’s quality system requires — consistently, not just on the first article.

AOP Technologies has been building assemblies for OEM manufacturers and industrial customers in the Pacific Northwest since 1999. We are ISO 9001:2015 certified, audited annually by an accredited third-party auditor, and staffed by a team with 125 combined years of assembly experience and deep application knowledge in pneumatics, fluid power, liquid handling, and electro-pneumatic controls. We specialize in high-mix, low-volume work: the custom, complex, and short-run assemblies that larger contract manufacturers will not take on.

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What We Build

We handle assembly work across a range of complexity and application types, including:

Simple mechanical assemblies:

Tubing kits, plumbing assemblies, and component kits configured to customer specification

Fluid power assemblies:

Pneumatic and hydraulic sub-assemblies for industrial automation, OEM equipment, and MRO applications

Electro-pneumatic assemblies:

Integrated pneumatic and electrical systems for motion control and automation applications

Liquid handling systems:

Fluid circuit assemblies for industrial, food production, laboratory, and OEM applications, including systems built with custom-machined plastic manifolds

Electrical automation assemblies:

Control panels, machine enclosures, and electrical sub-assemblies for automation systems

Custom-machined components:

Plastic and metal parts machined to print on our CNC equipment, including components that require tolerances or materials not available from standard catalog items

3D printed components:

Prototype and production parts produced using SLA printing, with tolerances to ±.004 inch and biocompatible resin options for medical and dental applications

Wire processing assemblies:

Wire stripping, crimping, and harness assembly for Mil Spec and SAE AS series cable formats, serving aerospace, commercial, and industrial applications

For customers who need both components and assemblies, we source the components we distribute through our own stocking inventory. That means we are not managing a separate procurement chain for the parts that go into the assembly, we already carry them.

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The Manufacturing Process

Every project follows a documented 12-step process from intake through delivery:

  1. Review of customer documents, requirements, and expectations
  2. Creation of manufacturing processes and documentation
  3. Development of detailed part specifications
  4. Procurement and warehousing of components
  5. Inspection of customer-fabricated parts to aerospace standards
  6. Assembly per documented procedures, with engineering oversight on first-article builds
  7. Testing per customer requirements
  8. Labeling, including barcoding where required
  9. Final inspection for specification compliance
  10. Issuance of certificates of compliance
  11. Lot-number traceability documentation
  12. Custom packing and shipping per customer specification

This process is not a marketing document. It is the actual production sequence, audited annually and maintained as part of our ISO 9001:2015 quality management system. For customers who have been burned by contract manufacturers who delivered on the first article and then let quality slip on subsequent runs, the audit trail matters.

Why Manufacturers Outsource to AOP

Regulated industry documentation without the internal overhead

For customers in medical device, aerospace, semiconductor, and food production, assembly documentation is not optional. Certificates of compliance, lot traceability, material certifications, and inspection records have to be produced for every production run, stored correctly, and made available on audit. We produce and maintain that documentation as standard practice, not as a special request.

High-mix, low-volume capability

Large contract manufacturers optimize for high-volume, low-variation production. If your requirement is a short-run or custom assembly, or if your product mix changes frequently, that model does not work for you. We are built for high-mix, low-volume work. The same engineering team that handles one-off prototype assemblies handles ongoing production runs, and the documentation follows the same process in both cases.

Components and assemblies from one source

We are both a stocking distributor and a contract manufacturer. The components that go into the assemblies we build come from our own inventory, which means we control the procurement quality and we are not dependent on a third-party distributor to source the right parts. For customers who have experienced assembly failures traced back to substituted or non-conforming components, that matters.

On-site machining and 3D printing

When an assembly requires a custom-machined component, we can produce it in-house on our CNC equipment rather than outsourcing it and managing a separate supplier relationship. That applies to both plastic and metal components, and to prototype parts produced via SLA 3D printing. For assemblies that require tight tolerances or custom geometry, keeping machining in-house reduces lead time and quality risk.

Just-in-time delivery and stocking options

We offer just-in-time delivery and blanket order programs for customers with predictable production schedules. For customers who need a finished assembly available when their production line needs it — not when lead time allows — we can structure the delivery program accordingly.

Facility and Credentials

Our Auburn, WA facility includes over 5,000 square feet dedicated to contract manufacturing and assembly, with on-site CNC machining and SLA 3D printing capability. We are ISO 9001:2015 certified, with all departments audited annually — internally by our quality control team and externally by an accredited third-party auditor.

For customers in regulated industries who require supplier qualification documentation, our certification package is available on request.

Working With Us

Contract manufacturing relationships work when the manufacturer understands what you are building, why the specifications are what they are, and what the consequences of a non-conforming assembly are in your production environment. That context does not transfer through a purchase order. It comes from working through the requirements together.

We work with customers at the front end of a project — reviewing drawings, identifying specification questions before they become production problems, and making sure the assembly process is documented correctly before the first part is built. Getting the specification right at the start is the most effective way to protect production schedules on both sides.

If you have a sub-assembly that you are currently building in-house or sourcing from a supplier who is not consistently meeting your requirements, contact our team at automation@aoptech.com or call 253-735-5449. We are based in Auburn, WA and serve manufacturers throughout Washington, Oregon, and Idaho.

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