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Bits and Pieces

Archived column by Ray Rasmussen

Sustainability in the Supply Chain

Pam Gordon, of Technology Forecasters, has written an article for Green Biz titled How to make electronic trade groups drive sustainability. With help from IPC, Gordon gathered input from association members to gain some perspective on how industry associations engage their members on environmental sustainability. A couple of questions: First, is it their (the association’s) job to drive this in the industry? Second, what is “environmental sustainability?” Here’s how the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency describes it: Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment. Sustainability creates and maintains the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic and other requirements of present and future generations.

Although I think it makes for an interesting article and it caught my attention, I’m not so sure this is an issue for our associations. Where are we falling short? Yes, we all use dangerous chemicals, but what does that have to do with sustainability? If we’re doing our environmental bit, what are we doing that isn’t sustainable? If we’re keeping the air and water clean and recycling everything that can be recycled, why do we need to make this an industry issue? Can we all do our part to lessen our impact on the environment? Sure. But it’s the OEMs and the politicians that will drive the effort toward cleaner tech, not the associations.

Sustainability is important to making sure that we continue to have,  the water, materials, and resources required to protect human health and our environment. And, if you have a flat roof, which most of our factories do, you should be looking into solar options which will lessen your impact by helping to clean the air and reduce the impact of global warming. I suspect that most, if not all, chemical companies have their own sustainability efforts underway, along with all the component makers. Might be best if, as part of our industry-wide PR efforts, the associations took stock of where we stand today with regard to sustainability. But, I don’t think we need associations to drive this.

Read the full column here.


Editor's Note: This column originally appeared in the August 2014 issue of SMT Magazine.