TSE manages "green" program to bring PC board products into RoHS compliance

An electronics company, a manufacturer of custom power supplies, had several customers inquire about compliance with the European Commission's recent announcement on eliminating hazardous materials in electronic products. The RoHS directive requires that six hazardous substances be removed from all electrical and electronic equipment by July 1, 2006. The substances are Cadmium, hexavalent Chromium, Lead, Mercury, polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) and polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE).

The electronics industry and individual companies have launced a number of studies to determine how to eliminate these hazardous materials and how best to meet the EC's reporting requirements. Virtually everyone in the electronic supply chain will be affected: component and material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and product manufacturers themselves. The regulations are still not settled, but one thing is certain - compliance will not be optional.

TSE was asked to manage a "green" program that would investigate all aspects o f the company's PC board products and the requirements to bring them into compliance.

• 13,000 Parts
• Schedule
• Financial Impact
• Program Management

TSE developed a multidiscipline team of engineers including a program manager to construct the total solution required. The engineers produced a "lead free" implementation roadmap that enabled them to identify functional areas within the company and their role in developing a "lead free" product portfolio. This roadmap can be used by many companies to organize a similar program

"TSE had the program management and the skilled engineers to staff this critical effort for us" an engineering project manager said.