1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...
1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...
1996 Electronics Industry Environmental Roadmap - Civil and ...
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Introduction<br />
An important distinction in this year’s edition of the <strong>Roadmap</strong> is the emphasis on strategic<br />
business opportunities, such as design for the environment practices <strong>and</strong> consumer electronics<br />
product disposition. The previous <strong>Roadmap</strong>, <strong>and</strong> MCC’s report that preceded it entitled “Life<br />
Cycle Assessment of a Computer Workstation,” focused much more heavily on environmental<br />
issues associated with particular technologies or component areas. Since MCC’s environmental<br />
roadmapping efforts first began, technology roadmaps have been completed, or are under way, by<br />
several other key electronics associations:<br />
2<br />
The Semiconductor <strong>Industry</strong> Association (SIA), in association with SEMATECH, has developed<br />
the National Technology <strong>Roadmap</strong> for Semiconductors.<br />
The Institute for Interconnecting <strong>and</strong> Packaging Electronic Circuits (IPC) has developed a<br />
National Technology <strong>Roadmap</strong> for Interconnects.<br />
The National <strong>Electronics</strong> Manufacturing Initiative (NEMI) has developed a broad<br />
roadmap for information hardware, encompassing a variety of specific technology<br />
segments including both technology issues <strong>and</strong> policy/infrastructure issues.<br />
The Optoelectronics <strong>Industry</strong> Development Association (OIDA) produced a roadmap for<br />
optoelectronic technology, including a section addressing displays.<br />
The U.S. Display Consortium (USDC) is in the process of developing a comprehensive<br />
roadmap for the flat panel display industry.<br />
NEMI, in association with a group of leading battery manufacturers, is currently<br />
launching an effort to produce a roadmap for energy sources <strong>and</strong> passive components.<br />
These roadmaps generally address the current state of technology, including emerging technologies,<br />
the requirements for <strong>and</strong> impediments to technological advancement, <strong>and</strong> a variety of policy<br />
issues associated with maintaining competitiveness of individual corporations <strong>and</strong> the entire industry.<br />
Most of the roadmaps also address certain cross-cutting challenges, i.e., issues that are<br />
pervasive in their importance to technological evolution within the particular electronic segment,<br />
although none comprehensively deal with environmental issues. A detailed summary of the various<br />
roadmaps can be found in Appendix A.<br />
This environmental roadmap has many similar characteristics, but to be effective it must operate<br />
at a different level. Given the body of knowledge represented by the other roadmaps, it would be<br />
misguided to attempt any significant additional technical analysis of these industry segments.<br />
The approach instead is to examine the technical <strong>and</strong> strategic business opportunities described<br />
in the roadmaps <strong>and</strong> identify those common or pervasive issues that seem to emerge. By doing<br />
so, the fundamental, cross-cutting requirements for effective industry action <strong>and</strong> environmental<br />
processes can be identified.<br />
For example, the similarity of chemicals, materials, <strong>and</strong> processes across various industry segments<br />
make the pursuit of environmental excellence in the electronics industry an inherently<br />
multi-company, <strong>and</strong> in fact, multi-industry endeavor. Therefore, the development of a true<br />
roadmap for environmentally conscious electronic systems manufacturing can only be<br />
accomplished through a cross-cutting view—identifying overall industry trends, examining<br />
common solutions <strong>and</strong> the distinctions among the various segment roadmaps, <strong>and</strong> highlighting<br />
opportunities for effective coordination <strong>and</strong> linkages.