AdaWiki

This is going to be the toughest part. You'll need to justify the expense of having a pick and place since it's not really something you want to have around just for looks. The cost will probably run you somewhere between $25k-$30k depending on the options and feeders that you get. It's obvious that it can save you time, but will it be worth the expense?

Most people look at a machine like this and think that its a huge expense. In reality, it's called a capital investment, which means that its an expense that might actually generate income. So you need to assess if you think it can help you generate enough income to pay for itself. If you take out a loan for the cost of the machine and tried to pay it back over 2 years, you'll probably end up paying about ~$1500 a month after interest. If you think having a machine like this can help you generate that kind of monthly income, then you may want to consider it. If you haven't opened up a store yet, don't have the money to pay for the machine without going into serious debt, and haven't established that you can sell what you're making with it, then I would probably recommend against getting the machine at this time. However if you're already doing that kind of revenue on your boards, but find yourself spending all your time on assembly (or spending a lot of money on getting them assembled outside), then you may want to consider bringing assembly capability in-house.