ALAMEDA, CA -- A common theme arose during discussions at Technology Forecaster's quarterly meeting last week: knee-jerk reactions on the part of OEMs and their manufacturing partners to the challenges of global electronics manufacturing are not working. 

Attendees reportedly expressed considerable frustration at the tactical measures they are taking to meet environmental regulations such as China RoHS and finding profitable and socially responsible ways to manufacture the low-volume, high-mix products that represent the next wave of electronics outsourcing for the global arena. "I am so tired of the fire drills for WEEE, RoHS, and now China RoHS," one OEM complained.

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BRUSSELS -- An update on the status of the environmental part of TBBPA EU Risk Assessment, recently published by the European Chemicals Bureau, found that emissions of TBBPA when added to plastics can cause risks in some scenarios for surface water, sediment and soil. 

No concern has been identified in practice by the risk assessment for TBBPA when used as a monomer to be reacted into the epoxy resins for the production of printed circuit board laminates. The ECB mentioned a theoretical scenario where risk reduction could operate for reactive use in cases where sewage sludge is spread to agricultural land, but there is no need for this in practice as all user sites send their industrial sludge to incineration or controlled landfills.

The update follows publication of the human health part last year in which no risks were identified.

The environmental part of TBBPA EU Risk Assessment is expected to be finalized mid 2007.

EBFRIP believes that most of the risks identified for additive application are manageable through a Voluntary Emissions Control Action Programme (VECAP)2. To date, more than two-thirds in volumes of TBBPA additive customers in Europe have committed to control and reduce emissions.

EBFRIP will work with the UK – in charge of TBBPA Risk assessment for the EU -- which will begin draft a strategy to reduce the risks identified above.

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­TBBPA is used to comply with global fire safety requirements mainly as a reactive chemical in epoxy resins of printed circuit board laminates (such as FR-4, CM-1 and CM-3) and as an additive to ABS plastics

VECAP was established by the brominated flame retardant industry, which wanted to manage, monitor and minimise industrial emissions of commercially available brominated flame retardants into the environment through partnership with the supply chain. Developed for deca-BDE, it is now being applied to the main other commercial brominated flame retardants, TBBPA and HBCD.

For a copy of the first VECAP Annual Progress Report, click here.

NORTH BILLERICA, MA — BTU International has relocated its Southeast Asia headquarters to an expanded site in Singapore.

The new facility includes a state-of-the-art demo and training facility, comprehensive spare parts inventory, conference rooms, and increased office space to support BTU’s continuing growth in Southeast Asia.

At the opening ceremony, on Dec. 4, Boris Mathiszik, BTU’s director of sales for Asia Pacific, said, “We are very excited about our move and our resulting ability to better support our growing customer base in the region. With our branch office in Penang, Malaysia, and our Southeast Asia headquarters here in Singapore, we are able to provide our customers unmatched service and support capability.”

The new office address is:

 BTU Overseas, Ltd

No. 9 Kaki Bukit Road 1

#02-10 Eunos Technolink

Singapore 415938

Tel : 65-67414567

PHOENIX – Anoraks with printed heating elements. LEDs, non-emitting displays, photovoltaics on rigid substrates. Low-weight, high-rel military applications. These were just some of the uses of printed electronics displayed and discussed at IDTechEx’s annual Printed Electronics USA in December. More than 300 delegates attended this year's event, which was characterized by demonstrations of market-ready products. Three U.S. military talks illustrated how this sector is still advancing faster than most. Here the objective of reducing the weight of a soldier’s pack by two-thirds was just as important as multipurpose items, such as the tent that doubles as an antenna and photovoltaic power supply. T-Ink demonstrated new applications of existing printed technology such as batteries, sensors, buttons and lights. Flexible OLEDs, as displays, signage or lighting, now look 10 years away, but electrophoretics are already here with flexible versions coming much sooner. Some pundits are forecasting printed flexible OLEDs at low volumes for the next few years, but flexible electrophoretics volumes are predicted to be much higher. Many forms of photovoltaics now look launchable in 2007. Printed thin film transistor circuits remain a year away, but many working samples were displayed. Most agree that a high percentage of printed electronics applications in the next few years will be from applications created from new markets. Some in printed conductors are considering developing semiconductors. Others hope to replace indium tin oxide semi-transparent electrodes in OLEDs, AC electroluminescent displays and so on. Here progress is slow, but HC Starck is a leader. Conductive plastics with better than resistor-like performance are still elusive. However, these problems are all seen as commercial opportunities. Giants of the chemical, plastics, printing, packaging and electronics industries were all present to see how they could participate in this new industry, with its potential for hundreds of billions of dollars annually, dwarfing the success of the silicon chip.