Companies still struggling with compliance

According to a report from the Aberdeen Group in Boston, Mass., many manufacturers are still at risk of non-compliance despite pouring considerable time, money and staff into complying with various product content regulations worldwide. The report examines the compliance challenges and initiatives of manufacturers across a number of industries as they respond to RoHS, FDA labeling requirements and REACH. The findings indicate that most companies still lack a sustainable, repeatable compliance process. The processes have been manual and will not scale as the compliance landscape continues to become more complex.

The report does identify some successful compliance practices such as aggressively working to meet or exceed strict standards worldwide, designing for compliance early in the product lifecycle, centralizing control over compliance and measuring compliance frequently. Best-in-class performers are more likely to use PLM as well as specialty tools such as electronic design automation, recipe and formula management, supplier collaboration, dynamic publishing, component catalogs and business intelligence and analysis tools as key technology enablers.

Original text is here