Power Supply Vendor Announces RoHS Initiative

Jun 22, 2005 12:50 PM

Artesyn Technologies has announced a new Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) initiative, through which the company will substantially reduce the lead, mercury, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, brominated flame retardants and other hazardous substances used in the manufacture of its telecom products. Artesyn is one of the first OEM suppliers to wholeheartedly embrace RoHS, and is significantly ahead of the directive’s introduction in Europe in July 2006. Artesyn’s Communications Products (ACP) division plans to ship its first RoHS-compliant products in August 2005, with the company’s Power Conversion division following by the end of the year.

“Protecting the environment has always been a top priority at Artesyn,” said Joseph O'Donnell, Artesyn's chairman, president and CEO. “The RoHS initiative offers a real opportunity for the telecom industry to minimize its environmental impact. The large telecom OEMs are already getting on board and adopting RoHS, requiring suppliers like Artesyn to provide RoHS-compliant products. As an early adopter of the directive, we expect to be delivering RoHS-compliant products by the end of the year, well in advance of the July 2006 deadline. This will give our telecom equipment OEM customers plenty of time to qualify and integrate our products into their own RoHS-compliant systems.”

RoHS is a European Union (EU) directive—2002/95/EC—created to limit harm to the environment and human health by restricting the use of harmful substances in electrical and electronic equipment. Effective July 1, 2006, RoHS restricts the use of six substances: cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)), polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and lead (Pb). RoHS was developed for the EU market. However, many of the world’s nations, and most major telecom providers selling into global markets, are adopting the same or similar initiatives.

Artesyn’s RoHS initiative is under way on multiple fronts, from supply chain management and engineering, to marketing and sales. On the supply chain front, the company is working diligently with suppliers to understand and align their RoHS strategies with Artesyn’s own strategy. The initial supplier surveys were carried out in 2004, and Artesyn is currently collecting material content data and qualifying parts based on that survey. In parallel, the company is developing an analysis tool for engineering, and generating material content reports for its own products.

Artesyn has invested heavily in equipment to support lead-free product manufacturing, and all of its manufacturing facilities are now ready for this new manufacturing operation.

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