Supply Chain Reaction

The IPC released some startling numbers this week, suggesting that the electronics supply chain is not ready for the REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals) regulation, despite the fact that it took effect on June 1, 2007.

The industry group conducted a survey on REACH preparedness in the North American and European interconnect industry and found that more than 40% of manufacturing and purchasing personnel have no understanding of the REACH regulation as it affects their companies. On top of that, the survey found that the same holds true for nearly one-third of senior management, 29% of engineering personnel, and 28% of environment, health and safety personnel.

Numbers as drastic as these are always shocking. How do you ignore REACH – an EU regulation that puts responsibility on the electronics supply chain to manage the risks from chemicals and to provide safety information on the substances used in electronics – when its impact is expected to be farther reaching than that of ROHS?

ROHS, which stands now at restricting just six substances in electronic products encompassing about 100 different chemicals, is a drop in the bucket compared to the near 30,000 unique chemicals REACH covers. Those 30,000 chemicals impact substances in nearly all applications, and while ROHS can address entire classes of substances at a time, REACH addresses them each individually.

“REACH will have a far-reaching effect on any company that buys sells or uses chemicals,” said Tony Hilvers, VP of industry programs for IPC, in a statement. “Inevitably, all companies that use chemicals or make products that contain chemicals will be affected … and that pretty much sums up the entire electronics supply chain. The survey clearly indicates that our industry is woefully unprepared for the hit it’s about to take.”

As the IPC survey proves, many members of the electronic supply chain have ignored and continue to ignore this regulation. I wish I was surprised by this, but I’m not, especially after this year’s EDS conference in May. While there, I sat down with several distributors and, as they always do, the conversations at one point or another turned to environmental compliance and the electronics supply chain. In one of my first meetings, I asked a distribution exec to clarify a general statement he made using the term “ROHS.” Did he mean China ROHS, EU ROHS, etc.? The reply I got was “American ROHS,” which, as readers of this blog know, doesn’t exist. Shivers crept down my spine and I made it a point to question each company I sat down with on ROHS for the rest of the conference.

Sadly, this exec proved to have plenty of company in his ignorance of the environmental regulations targeting the electronics supply chain. While environmental compliance impacts every single person in the global electronics industry, very few seem to have a handle on the regulations. Like ostriches with their heads in the sand, many companies count on their partners to take care of business or have appointed one or two employees to cover all of the broad-reaching environmental compliance initiatives, and from ROHS, to REACH, to the state laws here in the US, to WEEE, to EUP, to POHS, the list continues to grow.

The IPC’s electronic survey was sent to executives throughout the electronic interconnect supply chain in North America and Europe, and shows that even with a deadline for pre-registration of substances quickly approaching, only 18.3% of companies have identified and/or inventoried all substances in their products. More so, only 60.5% of chemical supplier respondents are planning to register or pre-register substances at all, the survey data revealed.

The full report on IPC’s REACH preparedness survey is available here.

Share your thoughts on REACH and industry preparedness below. Is the electronics supply chain equipped with the knowledge it needs to incorporate REACH, as well as the various other regulations, into our global industry?