The Printed Circuit Board industry is about to become green through the introduction of printed electronics manufacturing processes being developed

The following article is a series of “from the trenches” stories taken both from the perspective of an electronics manufacturer and an environmental compliance consultancy. The accounts below provide a library of RoHS compliance scenarios that illustrate the extremes of building an RoHS compliant product and the pitfalls of assuming that a declaration of compliance is ironclad

In the last year, the burgeoning printed and thin film electronics industry has greatly enhanced its repertoire and changed its priorities, encompassing such things as rapid commercialisation of disposable and invisible electronics. The percentage of printed and partly printed electronics that is flexible is rapidly increasing as shown below

Electronics product companies and their contract manufacturers have environmental guidelines for nearly all they do: They can join the Electronics Industry Code of Conduct, and meet energy-efficiency ratings such as EnergyStar. Electronic hardware is covered by the RoHS Directive and more stringent environmental requirements around the world

The Environmental Design of Electrical Equipment Act (EDEE, bill HR2420) has recently been put before the US House of Representatives as a proposed amendment to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)

Europe's Restriction of Hazardous Substances law was just the beginning of a wave of environmental laws and regulations impacting the electronics supply chain

The PC board design cycle process can be divided into four capabilities quadrants: Knowledge; Tools; Libraries; and Manufacturing. At Sunstone, we liken these quadrants to an engineering ecology, or ECOsystem™

Challenges in the manufacture of electronic assemblies are common in today's "world is flat" environment. They include cultural differences in the workplace, communication, both time and language and quality