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50% of all CIL production now RoSH compliant

We are delighted to report that, although we were extremely encouraged when we ran lead-free trials last year, in practice the transition has gone far better than we dared hope. Now, 50% of all CIL production is RoHS compliant. In fact, we are getting better results with lead free soldering systems than we were with leaded solder systems.

We have had no problems whatsoever in terms of the soldering process. The only slight hitch has been with the pattern recognition on the SMT placement machines due to the reflective qualities of a small minority of new lead-free components. This issue was soon sorted out by changing the PRS lighting set up to accommodate the new components.

We are convinced that the fact that we use very modern equipment has helped make the transition relatively straightforward. It is also a great advantage that we can carry out full test and diagnostic procedures with digital X-ray, flying probe ATE, ICT ATE, component shear and optical measurement equipment in house. Without such equipment the transition would have been much more difficult.



We expect that by the end of March, all customers who will need to be RoHS compliant will be, but we will, of course, continue to offer leaded assembly for those customers who do not have to comply to the new regulations, which is still a very significant percentage.


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