Half won't make the Pb-free deadline
07 January 2006
Our latest survey results show that half of the companies won't have transitioned all their products to
Pb-free by the time the RoHS directive comes into effect.
EM&Ts Business Barometer was conducted at the end of November, which theoretically still leaves a couple of months for companies to make the Pb-free switch. It could also be argued that the 10% (down from 23% in our survey three months) of companies who do not anticipate having any Pb-free product in six months are, or believe they are, exempt from the Directive. Even so, that still only takes the 50% (down from 71%) of companies who say they will not be fully compliant down to 40%, which is a huge proportion. How the National Weights and Measures are going to police this situation, or what action could be taken against 'non-compliers', is difficult to imagine when the numbers are so large. There is no doubt that the transition process is accelerating but it is still obviously not as straight-forward as people expect. If we go back two surveys (six months ago) 17% of our respondents claimed to have already launched their first Pb-free product, while a further 46% predicted they would have done by now. So we should be looking at a current total of 63% of companies with a Pb-free product, but the current figure of 37%, while still up 14% from the September survey, is a long way short of the mark.
Elsewhere, the overall confidence in industry seems to be soaring. 72% (up 17%) expect their company to increase turnover in the next six months, while only 5% (down 4%) expect a downturn in their fortunes. Investment in new equipment is also at its highest level since our survey began in September 2003 with 28% (up 15%) currently spending, and a further 39% anticipating doing so in the next six months.
Once again, thank you to all those who responded. The next survey will be conducted at the end of February for publication in the April issue.
Contact Details and Archive...
Most Viewed Articles...