Cross-functional environmental initiatives : addressing Restriction of Hazardous Substance (RoHS) technical challenges at Sun Microsystems

The European Union (EU) passed the Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, effective January 2006, banning the sale of electronics equipment containing lead and five other hazardous substances into EU countries. The RoHS Directive is driving an accelerated transition to lead-free technology and products across the electronics industry. Lead is commonly used in component finishes and is a key material in the solder process used to attach components to printed circuit boards. Lead-free technical challenges include implementing significant changes in component plating and circuit board assembly. Although the industry has collaborated to produce viable technical options, various lead-free solutions have trade-offs among cost, reliability, and short-term availability. Given regulatory deadlines and potential loss of EU sales, Sun and others in the electronics industry are impelled to make material and process changes based on less data and information than they would typically act on. Sun's RoHS technical team was staffed from the Central Engineering group and developed RoHS specifications that go beyond basic compliance in order to address known lead-free reliability issues. However, lead-free requirements included in RoHS technical specifications have significant supply chain implications with respect to cost, operations, and strategy in addition to reliability impact. The technical team has the capacity to address general lead-free technology and engineering challenges, but it is not staffed to conduct broader business impact analysis. Industry supply base readiness varies widely; not all suppliers will meet RoHS deadlines and related Sun specifications.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Greenlaw, Tamara

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Randall Kirchain and Sara Beckman.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Civil and Environmental Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34840

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/34840