Atlanta - ECIA is pleased to announce an enhanced educational initiative to help customers understand the current engineering data about date code restrictions. Recent studies have now conclusively determined that industry date code practices concerning obsolete components need to be updated to help customers improve profits and reduce e-waste. The first webinar, ‘Debunking the Myths Around Date Code Restrictions,’ will take place April 23, at 11 EDT.

ECIA’s Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) is leading the industry to address this important challenge. Working across the industry with other key players, including the IPC, JEDEC, and EMSNOW.com, ECIA has convened a consortium of experts to drive the consensus needed to bring about change.

“Date code restrictions are overdue for industry reform,” declared Don Elario, ECIA’s VP of Industry Practices. “With case studies and technical performance data in the public record, it’s time for the industry to act.”

As silicon fabrication technology advances, older fab processes are being phased out. At the same time, package obsolescence is accelerating, which creates sourcing challenges for legacy and long-lifecycle systems.

Obsolete components can disrupt supply chains, which in turn affects production schedules and complicates the process of sourcing fully authorized replacements.

“Despite the growing consensus that restrictions based on date codes lack a factual foundation, some Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and Contract Manufacturers continue to express concerns about soldering aged material onto printed circuit boards,” explained Dan Deisz, Vice President of Design Technology at Rochester Electronics, and presenter at the first webinar.

This webinar series will be moderated by EMSNOW.com’s publisher, Eric Miscoll, a leading publication serving the electronic manufacturing services (EMS) industry, and their OEM customers and suppliers. In addition, ECIA’s Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) will report on joint IPC-ECIA survey data regarding the EMS/OEM customer community’s attitudes and beliefs about this critical supply chain issue.

“This is an important issue that I suspect is currently not on the radar for most of the EMS/OEM community,” commented Eric Miscoll, EMSNOW Publisher. “I look forward to learning more about the supply chain, engineering, and business issues related to date code restrictions and bringing this information to our EMS executive audience.”

First Webinar: Debunking the Myths Around Date Code Restrictions:

In the first webinar, Dan Deisz presents compelling evidence that date code restrictions for electronic components are obsolete. Through extensive studies on long-term storage, the data reveals that components maintain their mechanical integrity and solderability even after many years.

• Learn about the current semiconductor market trends, how component obsolescence affects long-term system markets, and the driving factors.
• Learn how traditional solderability tests may over-reject acceptable aged material.
• Explore how a long-term storage strategy can ensure a consistent supply chain, long-term component availability, and avoid unnecessary waste.

Other webinars planned for the near future include:

• Webinar 2: The supply chain implications of date codes
• Webinar 3: Next steps: where does the industry go from here

Register NOW for the first webinar, ‘Debunking the Myths about Date Code Restrictions’ on April 23 at 11 a.m. EDT.

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