Catalogers offer RoHS help
Jim Carbone, Executive Editor, Electronics, Purchasing Magazine -- Purchasing, 10/6/2005 6:00:00 AM
It’s no secret that the Restriction on the Use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) deadline is bearing down on the electronics industry. Many companies are working feverishly to make sure the equipment they design and build does not contain lead or the five other hazardous substances banned by the European Union initiative.
Some OEMs and electronics manufacturing services providers are struggling with RoHS and are looking for help from catalog distributors. Catalogers often provide purchasers and design engineers easy access to the latest data on which parts are compliant and which ones aren’t.
"Part of the problem is some component manufacturers say they will not issue new part numbers for compliant parts," says Rob Birse, director of marketing for Allied Electronics in Fort Worth, Texas. "Sometimes a date code will be used or the package of parts will be labeled to show the part is RoHs compliant. In some cases, an E or an R suffix will be used with a part to show it is compliant," he says.
Another problem buyers face is is some parts are exempt from RoHS. "That is as much a problem as RoHS compliance issue," says Birse. "Some products are not marked with a RoHS compliant logo because they are not involved with RoHS. "We are thinking about creating a RoHS exempt logo."
Birse says many OEM customers are looking to catalog distributors to tell them if the parts in their design are RoHS compliant.
Catalog distributors will review a customer’s bill of materials (BOM) to identify which parts are compliant, which ones aren’t and what substitutes would be suitable.
Newark InOne’s RoHS Wizard tool performs that service for free for customers.
"Customers don’t have to go to 40-50 vendors to check RoHS compliance for their BOMs," says Paul Tallentire, president of Newark InOne.
The need for up to date information about RoHS is catalog distributors’ business on the web.
Catalog houses have beefed up their websites, making them easier to find part data and to purchase parts.
"We have 16,000 unique people accessing our website each day," says Tallentire. "That’s up from 10,000 one year ago." About 18% of customers buy on line, and in the next three years that will move to 40%, he says.
Catalog distributors report that on-line buying is growing and their paper catalogs complement their websites.
"Actually we find that the catalog drives Internet sales and the Internet drives catalog sales," says Kevin Hess, director of marketing and business development for Mouser Electronics in Mansfield Texas. "The two work hand in hand to give customers all the information they want," says Hess.
Sometimes a buyer will check out parts out in the catalog then go to Mouser’s website to compile a bill of materials and buy the parts.
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