What are some of the effects of lead-free programs on product identification?

There are two major effects to examine. The first is thermal. Bar code labels also should be viewed as critical components, with heat susceptibility to failure as much as any other component. If the wrong label material is subjected to a newer (hotter) thermal condition, the bar code information may be lost because of a lost or distorted label. Moreover, changes in cleaning chemistries may result in bar code information being chemically attacked, rendering it unreadable and worthless.

How are people differentiating between products that comply with WEEE and RoHS vs. standard old-school products?

There are two identification issues here. First, there are standardized markings used to identify compliant products. For detailed information, contact Ken Terrazzino at ken.terrazzino@polyonics.com . He will forward you the most recent newsletter, which details the marking standards and Web sites for free downloads of the standards. Second, there are marking issues internally to specific companies. That is, how to track subassemblies that comply as opposed to those that do not. Clearly, prudent manufacturers will run product manufacturing process for lead-free operations in parallel with standard operations, resulting in two product streams — compliant and noncompliant. Polyonics has developed bar code labels in a variety of colors for color code identification of WEEE/RoHS compliant assemblies, contrasting to the white bar code labels of standard production outputs.