Contract manufacturers may shun non-compliant products

Manufacturers in aerospace, defense and other industries exempt from RoHS rules may find themselves shifting to compliant products like it or not. Even if their suppliers continue to produce non-compliant parts – and that’s not a given – they may find their contract manufacturers refusing to run both compliant and non-compliant processes.

Contract manufacturers operate under thin margins, typically 1 percent. These companies have quietly started to admit they can’t afford to switch from compliant manufacturing to non-compliant manufacturing with the same ease they switch from one product to another. The set up time between compliant and non-compliant manufacturing will simply be too costly.

Word on the electronics industry street says production of non-compliant products for aerospace, defense and other exempt industries will soon become pricy niche manufacturing. Most of aerospace and defense suppliers will either bite the bullet and shift to compliant products, or they will pay premium prices for products containing high-reliability, non-compliant parts.

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