Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1426508
NOVEMBER 2021 I DESIGN007 MAGAZINE 75 I will pause here to reiterate that I am not making a judgment on the merit of these regu- lations, but rather pointing out that there are objective costs associated with compliance thereof. For more information on IPC's offi- cial position on these regulations and how we are supporting industry going forward, please reach out to the IPC Government Relations department. You can find more information on IPC.org. What can you or your company do to attempt to minimize costs? ree words can certainly help: data transfer standards. Apart from design standards, my other hat is to manage the committees that are respon- sible for the IPC-1750 family of supplier declaration standards. ese documents all describe xml file formats which enable com- panies to request data from their suppliers or push data to their customers that relate to vari- ous regulatory requirements: RoHS, REACH, data sufficient for a SCIP submission, etc. e beauty of the xml format is it's standardized across submissions, so a company can elimi- nate the manpower associated with parsing various data formats from their suppliers or negotiating submission data formats with their customers. It's all just IPC-1752 or IPC- 1754 (material declarations and materials and substances declaration for aerospace, defense, and other industries, respectively); commu- nicating data pursuant to SCIP; IPC-1755 (responsible minerals sourcing) communicat- ing information pursuant to EU Conflict Min- erals Legislation; or IPC-1753 (lab reports) communicating analytical lab report data. ere are no miscellaneous data formats that must be reckoned with. If a company does not have the resources to create an in-house system to receive and col- late these files, then they can utilize one of the many solution providers who offer compli- ance tools that are capable of importing and exporting IPC-1750 family compliant files. Most of them will contact suppliers and com- municate with customers on your behalf to collect and manage data. (ese companies are all verified by IPC to ensure that their data is, indeed, compliant.) Of course, there are up-front costs associated with purchasing any given compliance tool or service, and you or your company should weigh this before mak- ing any decisions. ese standards help eliminate costs by "greasing the wheels" of communication between companies in a supply chain. ey do not necessarily eliminate the amount of data that is required to submit to customers or regulatory agencies, but they can help ensure that your company has all the data necessary to complete a submission. In my example, Company C did not provide the correct data to Company A, which would prompt another round (or 20) of back-and-forth until the cor- rect information was obtained. In the end, there will likely be a cost asso- ciated with compliance. However, with the proper tools, any electronics manufacturing company can mitigate those costs to the full- est extent possible. As regulations continue to evolve, IPC standards will be revised to match those regulations and their various require- ments. DESIGN007 Patrick Crawford is the manager of design programs and related industry programs at IPC. To read past columns or contact him, click here or email Patrick- Crawford@ipc.org. What can you or your company do to attempt to minimize costs? Three words can certainly help: data transfer standards.