One of the most significant and challenging aspects of our RoHS effort has been material management. Building systems to identify, control and record material composition and compliance information is essential to maintaining efficiency while meeting the regulatory requirements.

• On top of controlling new compliant materials, ControlTek maintains support for existing products while managing thousands of legacy components.
• Key material issues have been establishing new processes (and systems) and supporting end-of-life/obsolete issues for existing non-compliant components.

In order to support regulatory compliance:

• Every component utilized in our manufacturing process needs origin information documented and compliance verified.
• This is managed cooperatively by our integrated ERP system between purchasing, inventory control and component engineering.
• Compliance can be traced to the original manufacturer and tied to RoHS compliance documentation.

A recurring issue related to new leadfree components is the early end-of-life of many components currently being used for many electronic assemblies. As component manufacturers implement new RoHS compliant designs for existing components, the original items they are replacing are being discontinued. This has caused supply disruption as well as coordination to review and approve alternate sources. This challenge will continue to grow and a close supplier/customer relationship is essential.