Few problems with RoHS in Norway

Norway’s national network, ELFNET, reports that RoHS has caused few major problems for Norway’s electronics industry as of September 2006. A survey of electronic manufacturing service (EMS) companies found that more than 50 percent of the country’s electronics manufacturers have products outside the scope of RoHS, but those that need to comply have done so without significant hitches.

The EMS providers told ELFNET that finding compliant components was the most difficult part of meeting RoHS requirements. The manufacturers also noted that compliant parts came at a somewhat higher cost. The quality of those parts tended to be equal to non-compliant parts, but some of the components had problems with high temperatures in the manufacturing process. The EMS providers also noted higher prices for compliant laminates, solders and solder paste.

The EMS providers also experienced difficulties in establishing optimal lead-free manufacturing processes. Challenges included difficulties in maintaining a stable soldering process with high throughput and high quality. The difficulties resulted in hand soldering, rework and repair.A full version of the report is available at the European Lead-Free site.

Original text is here