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New Standard to Provide Efficient Mechanism for the
Exchange of Materials Content Information
iNEMI, IPC and RosettaNet Collaborate on Development of
Specifications for Materials Declarations
HERNDON, VA./BANNOCKBURN, ILL./LAWRENCEVILLE, N.J., April 20, 2005 -- IPC —Association Connecting Electronics Industries®, the International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) and RosettaNet today announced development of a new IPC standard that will establish electronic data formats and supporting standardized forms to simplify the exchange of materials declaration information between trading partners in the electronics industry.This standard will integrate and leverage existing industry efforts in this area, including recommendations from the iNEMI Materials Declaration and Material Composition Data (MCD) Exchange projects and RosettaNet's e-business process standards for material composition.
The European Union's (EU's) RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) Directive is driving new requirements for the management and exchange of information. Information about the material composition of all components and bulk materials that go into the manufacturing of products will have to be available and shared across multiple tiers of the supply chain to support RoHS compliance.
The recently formed IPC committee 2-18 (Declaration Process Management Subcommittee) is drafting specifications for a standard data format for exchange of material content information.The new standard, IPC-1752, "Materials Declaration Management," will be a key element of the overall industry strategy for standardization of materials content declarations across the entire supply chain.It is intended to provide a uniform data format for exchanging materials composition data in order to reduce the cost and complexity of RoHS compliance, while increasing data quality and decreasing response times.
"Suppliers are reporting that the number of requests they are receiving from their customers is growing exponentially," says Richard Kubin, vice president of E2open, chair of the iNEMI MCD Exchange Project and chair of the IPC Declaration Process Management Subcommittee. "These requests are in as many different forms as there are customers.Without some sort of industry-standard format and the ability to automate the exchange of data, this issue is going to cost industry significantly more time and money than necessary, neither of which can be afforded with the RoHS deadline looming."
The standard will build on the formats and data collection processes developed by the two iNEMI projects.It also references the draft "Material Composition Declaration Guide," created by EIA (U.S.), EICTA (Europe) and JGPSSI (Japan) and commonly referred to as the Joint Industry Guide (JIG), to define the specifics of what needs to be reported (substances and methodology).The IPC standards committee also plans to coordinate efforts with a proposed IEC project to promote IPC-1752 as an international materials declaration standard.
Work is also being coordinated with RosettaNet to establish data exchange standards as well as a form-based input mechanism. The data standard will conform with RosettaNet Partner Interface Process® (PIP®) 2A13 (Distribute Material Composition Information) and the newly created 2A15 PIP (Request Material Composition Information), providing a direct path to full B2B automation of material composition data exchange.
"The coordination of IPC-1752 and the related RosettaNet e-business process standards will enable users to seamlessly track the material composition of products throughout their supply chain and communicate the information with trading partners as required," said Herman Stiphout, president of RosettaNet. "These standards will enable the exchange of material composition data, making it possible for companies to demonstrate compliance, reduce costs and promote data integrity."
"We expect this standard will help our members and the rest of the electronics supply chain reduce the burden and cost associated with completing multiple, differing materials declaration requests," said Fern Abrams, IPC director of environmental policy and one of the IPC staff liaisons to the project."This standard is urgently needed and we will do our best to move it through the standards process as quickly as possible.We hope that by leveraging the existing consensus work of the JIG, iNEMI and RosettaNet, we will be able to expedite the standards process."
IPC-1752 will include Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) forms for request-response and supplier self-declaration.These forms are designed so they may be completed using free Adobe® Reader® 7.0 software, either by manual data entry, by importing saved data, or through integration and automation with internal systems.They can be saved locally and submitted electronically back to the requester.The forms are based on an underlying XML schema, which in turn is represented by a UML data model. Data entered into the form automatically conforms to the schema requirements because the form design tool binds the schema elements directly to the form fields, thereby ensuring a higher level of data quality. The data captured by these forms can then be communicated in a standard format using RosettaNet PIPs.
Adobe System Incorporated has worked closely with IPC in support of the IPC-1752 MCD form.The forms will be freely available from the IPC website, and will be under IPC revision control.Further, IPC is committed to updating the standard and the forms as required by regulatory changes.
The Adobe PDF forms will leverage those developed under the RosettaNet Automated Enablement (RAE) presentation format standard and are intended to provide full support for automated data input and extraction, while enabling B2B automation.
The initial draft data model and PDF form are undergoing trials with members of the iNEMI MCD Exchange Project and the IPC Declaration Process Management Subcommittee during April, and the intention is to release the draft standard for a 60-day industry review on June 1, 2005.It is expected that the standard will be finalized in Autumn 2005, once all comments and feedback are addressed.
Companies supporting the development and/or use of the IPC-1752 standard include Celestica, Cisco Systems, Delphi Corporation, Foxconn, Freescale Semiconductor, Intel Corporation, Maxtor, Sun Microsystems, Teradyne Connections Systems and Texas Instruments.
About RosettaNet
RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium dedicated to the collaborative development and rapid deployment of open, e-business process standards that align processes within global trading networks. RosettaNet standards and services provide a common language for e-business transactions and the foundation for integrating critical processes among partners within the global supply chain. Companies that use RosettaNet's proven standards benefit from added cost-savings throughout supply chain processes, improved e-business communications with trading partners, enhanced product life cycle management capabilities, and added customer satisfaction. For more information about RosettaNet, visit www.RosettaNet.org.
About IPC
IPC is a Bannockburn, Ill.-based trade association dedicated to the competitive excellence and financial success of its more than 2,200 member companies, which represent all facets of the electronic interconnection industry, including design, printed circuit board manufacturing and electronics assembly.As a member-driven organization and leading source for industry standards, training, market research and public policy advocacy, IPC supports programs to meet the needs of a $40 billion U.S. industry employing more than 350,000 people.IPC maintains additional offices in Taos, N.M.; Washington, D.C.; Garden Grove, Calif.; Stockholm, Sweden; and Shanghai, China. For more information, visit www.ipc.org.
About iNEMI
The International Electronics Manufacturing Initiative's mission is to assure leadership of the global electronics manufacturing supply chain.Based in Herndon, Va., the industry-led consortium is made up of approximately 70 manufacturers, suppliers, industry associations and consortia, government agencies and universities.iNEMI roadmaps the needs of the electronics industry, identifies gaps in the technology infrastructure, establishes implementation projects to eliminate these gaps (both business and technical), and stimulates standards activities to speed the introduction of new technologies.The consortium also works with government, universities and other funding agencies to set priorities for future industry needs and R&D initiatives.For additional information about iNEMI, visit www.inemi.org.
For further information:
Sandy Gentry, IPC
+1 847-597-2871
SandyGentry@ipc.org
Cynthia Williams, iNEMI
+1 207-871-1260
cwilliams@inemi.org
Mark Silvey, RosettaNet
+1 412-642-7700
Mark.Silvey@elias-savion.com