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26 SMT007 MAGAZINE I JUNE 2023 e electronics manufacturing industry has a choice when it comes to sustainability: Be led by incentive and motivation from cus- tomers who require it or be forced to comply by governments. If we act together now, we can address sustainability in a beneficial way for our businesses, rather than allowing it to become yet another burden. Let's discover the global challenges and opportunities. e way that the market and governments currently approach the challenge of sustain- ability is not too dissimilar: ere are pock- ets of interest and incentives that appear in many different areas. To ensure sustainability, Is Sustainability in Manufacturing a Benefit or Burden? though, is taking a big step forward by creating projects and initiatives. ere are hundreds of individual sustainability initiatives, each with a narrowly focused goal and intent, using pro- prietary point solutions, and developed case by case. Each project interprets the meaning of "sustainability" data differently, depending on its approach and purpose. In theory, sustainability requirements should be quite simple. For example, one of today's most heavily discussed topics is a company's record of CO 2 emissions use in materials and products. e factors to consider are evolv- ing as they increase in scope and complexity. Smart Factory Insights Feature Column by Michael Ford, AEGIS SOFTWARE