Supplier Education Programs…because your level of risk is directly tied to their level of accuracy You are probably familiar with the “fear of God” story that drives so much of RoHS compliance: namely, Sony lost 110M Euros because the company exceeded Dutch cadmium standards in its 1.3M unit shipment. As a consequence, OEMs are collecting Yes/No or parts-per-million information from their suppliers. But many suppliers do not really understand RoHS. Very few have ppm data. And, according to a 2005 email from a large telecommunications company, 50% of the tested Y/N responses from suppliers were dead wrong. What to do? Educate your suppliers. On RoHS. On your requirements. On your reporting format – IPC 1752 or otherwise – in conjunction with your data management and reporting database. GCG works with many small-to-medium sized suppliers: from wire-and-harness assemblers to manufacturers of microwave equipment for large telecom systems. Currently, we are implementing a customer’s Supplier Education Program for up to 1,000 suppliers. It will focus on the IPC-1752 form as part of the customer’s data collection solution. It will speed up RoHS data collection. It will serve as a cornerstone of the company’s due diligence defense. And, best of all, it is extraordinarily cost-effective and time-efficient. Key Questions:· Are you collecting Y/N or ppm information from your suppliers, and do you trust it? · Are you running out of time? · Would it serve you well if your suppliers knew more – and it didn’t cost you a dime?
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