Distributors in the electronics industry are getting aggressive
in educating the supply chain about the upcoming Reduction of
Hazardous Substances (RoHS) regulations.
Using regional seminars, detailed Web-based lead-free
information and databases containing composition data on electronic
parts, distributors are trying to avert serious supply chain
problems that may occur if manufacturers don’t quickly switch
over to RoHS-compliant parts.
The deadline for electronic products to be free of hazardous
materials is July 1, 2006. That’s when the European
Union’s RoHS regulations go into effect. The regulations
require manufacturers to sell products that are free of six
hazardous materials, including lead and mercury.
While RoHS only applies to Europe, with a global supply chain
manufacturers can’t easily segment products by geographical
market. Plus, a number of US states and China are busy passing
legislation that matches the RoHS rules.
July 2005 may seem far away, but with product development time
running six to 18 months, the deadline is effectively here.
Manufacturers are now creating bills of materials for products that
will be sold past the RoHS deadline.
If recent moves in the Netherlands are any indication, Europe
will stringently enforce its coming laws. Last month in the
Netherlands, the government nabbed $93m worth of Sony PlayStations
because the product contains too much cadmium in its cables.
Cadmium is one of the substances banned in RoHS regulations, but
The Netherlands has existing anti-cadmium laws going back to 1999.
Apparently, one of Sony’s competitors tipped officials in the
Netherlands that PlayStations contain the banned substance.
In the face of the coming laws, some suppliers still don’t
have plans in place to switch to RoHS-compliant parts. Many in the
industry estimate that 30 per cent of component suppliers have yet
to introduce RoHS-compliant components. In response, distributors
have asserted that suppliers that fail to provide compliant parts
will be dropped from their line cards.
To help its manufacturing customers cope with the RoHS laws,
some distributors have hit the road with educational seminars. In
the US, Avnet of Phoenix has teamed with i2 Technologies in Dallas
to co-host regional seminars on lead-free compliance. TTI in Texas
is also presenting a string of seminars in 15 US and Canadian
cities over the next four months. The seminars cover both the
technical and business issues involved in complying with RoHS
laws.
A number of parts databases now contain detailed information of
component composition. Arrow Electronics in New York has updated
its component database to offer RoHS compliancy and lead-free
information to the parametric data on components. Avnet and i2 have
collaborated on adding RoHS compliance information to its
components database, and PartMiner New York has added RoHS
compliance data to its CAPS components database.
Many distributors - including Avnet, Arrow, TTI and Newark One
- have added extensive RoHS information to their Web sites. The Web
site for the National Electronic Distributors Association
(nedassoc.org) also has RoHS information.