The upfront cost (NRE) of a custom SPLat will depend on a number of factors: Complexity, possible re-use of the design or parts of it, any research we need to carry out, etc. Rest assured, however, that the NRE cost of a custom SPLat is significantly less than development of a full custom embedded controller with comparable capabilities, up to 75% less (in one case 90% less!).

The actual production units will in all probability cost you significantly less than the same functionality cobbled together from competing off the shelf products. The potential for savings comes mainly from the fact that there is usually a lot of waste when you use standard products. You may for example need only one channel of thermocouple input but the standard module has 2 or 4 channels. It may also be that there is some function you need that simply is not available in off-the-shelf products. The closest you can get in cost to a custom SPLat is usually a full custom (non-SPLat) controller, but the very much higher NRE of a full custom controller, not to mention the design risk, offsets any benefits in all but the largest volumes.

From our point of view there is a trade off between charging NRE and assured ongoing production quantities. When we put a proposal to you for a custom SPLat, we will set out the actual NRE cost and give you a budgetary unit price for various quantity levels.

The key to cost-effective control solutions is to combine as much of the functionality as possible into the ‘core’ controller itself. This is what makes a fully integrated custom SPLat so cost-effective.