FEATURE DESIGN & PROTOTYPING The number of environmental
regulations for reducing hazardous substances is continuing to grow and change. By making environmental compliance an integral part of the standard product development process, engineers will have the power to bring compliant products to market faster without sacrificing profit margin. Cyndi Kuka, senior document control/process specialist, MRV Communications, and Chuck Cimalore, CTO, Omnify Software, explain
STAYING ON TOP OF CHANGING environmental regulations
nvironmental compliance and product sustainability are key elements for success in today’s competitive market. To support this, a sustainability framework built on a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) foundation will allow designers to phase-out non-sustainable components and materials, and design-in new and innovative ’green’ alternatives. However, not only are there increasing
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demands to reduce hazardous substances, but more customers today are setting their own environmental requirements. The consequences of non-compliance can include costly redesigns, delays resulting in missed consumer trends, blocked shipments, and scrapped products. To avoid such problems, companies need to identify, track and control a constantly evolving list of high-risk substances, both in their own products as well as those in their supply chain. It is also important to better manage reports that involve testing and certification for products and materials. Managing the environmental
performance of products must be integrated throughout their entire lifecycle – from when market requirements are developed, to when new products are introduced, and new materials and suppliers are qualified. By building environmental compliance into the earliest phases of product development, companies can save money and bring compliant products to market faster.
32 MAY 2018 | DESIGN SOLUTIONS Technology like PLM helps to address
environmental compliance early in the design cycle. PLM allows you to centrally manage, track and report all product content and associated compliance information from vendor certificates of compliance to vendor datasheets, and provides key compliance information to enable engineers to make better design decisions up front. Being flexible and creative in utilising PLM’s document vaults, inserting key customised attributes, and structuring report options, allows for more productive updating of the rapidly changing requirements and prompt retrieval of data to make informative decisions.
REGULATIONS Products being developed today are more complex technically and commercially; they have more variants than ever before; and are designed to support global markets. In addition, many manufacturers rely more on multi-tier, global partnerships for design and manufacturing, and market pressure has forced them to adopt aggressive cost targets. Environmental requirements are subject to change as new restricted substances are identified and existing exemptions expire. New mandates are now emerging that focus on energy use, carbon footprint, and other environmental metrics.
In December 2012, for example, the number of REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) restricted substances increased by over 60%, and this year companies previously exempt from reporting will now have to register and report for existing companies that manufacture or import substances in low volumes. REACH 2018 concerns substances that are manufactured in or imported into the European Union (EU) above one tonne per company per year. The deadline for this registration is May 31, 2018. REACH’s list of SVHC (Substances of Very High Concern) also change approximately every six months. The ROHS2 (Restriction of Hazardous
Substances) amendment in 2015 (Directive (EU) 2015/863) adds four substances to the existing list of six restricted substances under RoHS2. The directive will take effect beginning July 22nd 2019 for all Electrical and Electronic equipment – with the exception of Medical Devices and Monitoring & Control equipment, which will have until July 2021 to comply. In addition to this, the U.S Conflict
Minerals Law stands to have a tremendous business impact on manufacturers. Section 1502 of the Dodd- Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act is a transparency measure, passed in 2010 and implemented by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
With the number of regulations growing year on year, designers and manufacturers can use technology like PLM to address environmental compliance early in the design cycle
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