The European Union's RoHS directive prohibits the sale of new electronic and electrical equipment in Europe after July 1, 2006 if it contains more than trace levels of the following elements:

• Lead
• Mercury
• Cadmium
• Hexavalent chromium
• Polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs)
• Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs)

Although this is an EU Directive, similar initiatives are occurring in non-European countries such as China and Japan. RoHS-like legislation is pending in several states, including California, as the U.S. continues efforts to protect health and the environment.

As a vertically integrated EMS provider, Federal Electronics offers the following manufacturing services, and is able to leverage these services to support our customers' RoHS conversion strategies:

• Surface mount and printed thru hole printed circuit board assemblies
• Copper cable assemblies and wire harness assemblies
• Fiber optic cable assemblies and harness assemblies
• Functionally tested higher level assemblies, electro-mechanical assemblies, and box builds

Available as a comprehensive solution or on an as-needed basis, our conversion services include:

• Bill of material (BOM) analysis and conversion to RoHS compliant material for all of our manufacturing service offerings
• Assistance in selection of compliant substitutes and second sources
• Engineering design assistance where the lack of suitable compliant components results in the need for PCBA redesign
• Continual notifications and BOM management as component suppliers issue End of Life statements for existing components and introduce RoHS compliant parts
• BOM cost and lead time analysis during the conversion process
• Documentation services (BOM's, drawings, specifications, etc)
• Production services conducted within lead-free compliant processes

Federal Electronics is proud to be among those companies who have helped their customers achieve early compliance with RoHS regulations. Compliance is a critical issue and we are actively assisting customers with their product conversion strategies. Our new RoHS services help ease the burden on OEM's so they can focus their resources on more critical issues such as new product design.