Cost reduction by eliminating vias from PCB design

Centuries ago, when I first started designing PC boards, I believe we were charged for the number of vias/holes (or number of different hole sizes) on a board, but that charge was dropped long ago.

There may be an extra charge if you have an excessive number of holes - like for a board matching the hole pattern of a plastic breadboard - but there is not usually a per-hole charge for "normal" PC boards. (However, this may depend on the board shop..)

Basically, the cost breakdown for doing the drilling of vias and other through-holes is:

• (1) setup time (putting the board on the machine)
• (2) time on the machine
• (3) removing the board from the machine
• (4) (later) plate-through holes

Costs #1, 3, and 4 are the same regardless of the number of vias. Cost #2 does vary, not just with the number of vias, but how long it takes to drill them, and how often the bit needs changing.

So there is some benefit to reducing vias if you have to have them, and also keeping the hole sizes large enough that the bits don't wear out as quickly. But in the big picture, for a very simple board this won't matter much.

Also consider that if your board has a special shape or uses 'mouse bites' or other breakaways for panelization, that takes routing time on the same machine that does the drilling. This in fact will dominate time spent on the drilling table. Using v-scribe singulation avoids this.

It is not worth it, unless you make million or more units per year. The cost per via on a 2 layer board, assuming no HDI, laser drilling, back filling or similar high cost requirement is negligible (less than 0.001USD).