Source
ESB
May 03, 2006
The
end of leaded commercial parts: Part 2
The
first part of this article looked at the fact that many buyers in the defense, aerospace
and medical equipment industries have been buying commercial off-the-shelf
components (COTS). The obvious reason is price. You may remember stories of
excessive payments made for specially designed military products – the $300
hammer comes to mind. Under criticism for spending too much for military grade
components, the military and aerospace industries started buying the same $6
hammers you and I buy.
The
problem is, commercial components have gone green in the face of the European
Union’s Restriction on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive. And many of those
companies producing COTS parts have discontinued their non-compliant versions
now that they’re producing RoHS-compliant parts. Or, those parts are still
being produced, but their prices are likely to increase, since they will be
produced in smaller quantities as the high-volume commercial industry shifts to
RoHS-compliant parts.
At
components distributor, Avnet Inc. in Phoenix, executives have not yet seen
lead-time increases in non-compliant parts. That’s partly because many
companies have been slow to move to compliant parts. “At this point, I haven’t
seen lead-time increases for ‘leaded’ product and I don’t expect to soon,” says
Jim Smith, SVP of Warehouse and Distribution worldwide for Avnet Electronics
Marketing, the components division of Avnet. “One of the amazing things right
now – at least in the Americas – is that even as we are on the heels of the
July 1st RoHS effective date, there is still only modest levels of
compliant product being ordered by end customers.”
Smith
attributes the lack of a rush to RoHS to two factors, the difficulty of making
the conversion to non-leaded parts, and the lack of complete availability of
compliant parts. “Many firms underestimated the task of transition or held off
starting the transition while they waited for clarification on exemptions,”
says Smith. “Also, not all components are currently available in the compliant
versions. There are still component manufacturers who are converting their
lines to compliant product versions.”
For
the defense and aerospace industries, finding non-compliant parts may begin to
become a problem later this year. “I have no doubt there will be supply
problems for defense and aerospace contractors,” says Smith. “These industries
are very concerned about tin whiskers, which are mitigated by using the leaded
versions of the part. Problems acquiring non-compliant product have already
started, but the true impact won’t be seen for another six months as the
components sitting in the supply chain dry up.”
As
companies in defense and aerospace adjust to the shift to compliant parts, they
will face the choice of adopting cheap compliant parts that may risk tin
whiskers over time or staying with non-compliant parts that may rise in price
since they will be produced in smaller quantities as the commercial industry
shifts to compliant parts. “The solutions are complicated, and both the
engineering and purchasing communities are faced with a mountain of work,”
notes Smith. “There will be many instances where a decision is made to redesign
the board using different parts still available in the leaded versions. In
other words, an engineering workaround. This not only means a redesign, but
also a re-qualification of the board or finished product.”
Smith
also expects that many defense and aerospace OEMs and contract manufacturers
will simply shift to compliant parts – and take their chances with tin whiskers
– because of price. “Some finished assemblies, even though they are outside the
scope of the RoHS directive – will convert to compliant product,” says Smith.
“This will occur where the risks from tin whiskering is minimal.”
As
the shift to RoHS-compliant parts enters its final phase, which may be many
months past the actual July 1 deadline, the production of non-compliant parts
may shift to specialty parts suppliers that produce product in smaller
quantities. “I don’t see the COTS product requirement being filled by mil spec
parts,” notes Smith. “Instead, I see business opportunities being generated by
this for firms willing to step in and produce these products in the leaded
versions. Large component manufacturers will license or spin off those lines to
niche producers and the lure will be higher component prices.”
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