What role can software and material handling systems play in managing RoHS compliance?

As companies transition to RoHS compliance over a period of time, effective management of individual packages of components is of vital importance. A main concern is that many manufacturers are simply using a specific date of manufacturing to denote that particular components transition from non-compliance to compliance with no change in part number. Additionally, a company may have both compliant and non-compliant components in stock at the same time. How does a company manage to keep components separated while in stock locations? How does a company manage the shop floor to ensure that the packages are appropriately flagged?

It is vitally important that inventory can be tracked via the software, and component storage racks/shelves can store components at the single package level. Software that allows for RoHS compliant packages (at the individual packages) to be identified and validated at several intervals such as at the issuance of a purchase order, receipt of inventory on the dock as well as during the loading of the SMT equipment or return to stock. The system must validate the status of RoHS compliance at each transaction point of the process.

Material storage systems must prevent compliant and non-compliant reels or tubes being stored in the same bin. Additionally, the material being returned to stock cannot be mixed with non-like-compliant products. Material storage systems that allow for one package to be stored per location makes the job of keeping the materials identified and segregated easier. These types of storage systems also enable material being returned to stock after being partially used on the SMT or through-hole line to continue to be verified as RoHS compliant and segregated until the next requirement.

The software must allow for each kit or job to be flagged to use RoHS-complaint parts only. Because some customers may be building one assembly as RoHS compliant and another in their product portfolio is not, the software must be able to denote what assemblies require RoHS-compliant parts vs. those that do not. This will allow the OEM to effectively transition a family of products to compliance over time.