New environmental regulations across the world’s markets can mean risk for customers seeking green products for their applications. That’s why NXP has added the step of anticipating future requirements during the design and development phase of new customer solutions before they are certified.
Already, many of our efforts are public and most of our product portfolio’s compliance documentation is searchable on our website, or available from the NXP ECO-Products team upon request. In technical terms, this documentation includes environmental compliance status (e.g. RoHS, Lead Free, and Halogen Free), product content declarations and full RoHS test reports. You can explore the database of compliance documentation through the NXP.com Product Content Search .
Our internal certification process supports the generation and publication of compliance documentation to coincide with new product introductions. This proactively timed approach supports and protects the success of green technology in NXP business units and their customers.
“For us, the certification phase is an integral component of the green technology journey”
Robin Davidson, ECO-Products Chemist
“For us, the certification phase is an integral component of the green technology journey,” explained Robin Davidson, ECO-Products Chemist for NXP in Austin, Texas. “Just as important is our focus on future regulatory direction and review of our customer trends. We work to incorporate both requirements into our products.”
NXP ECO-Products team’s multi-year effort continues to increase involvement with both new product introduction (“NPI”) and new technology introduction (“NTI”) without interrupting or delaying business unit processes. The process includes checklists of prohibited substances and a regularly updated list of substances that NXP has identified as potentially problematic for particular markets, now and in the future. The program is attempting to proactively ensure that materials being used in R&D testing can be incorporated into future green technology.
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The regulatory environment is diverse and challenging. The European Union drives many of the current requirements, continually moving them forward with new legislation. California is a regulatory leader in the US, while China, Japan, and India continue to evolve regulatory requirements in Asia. NXP constantly monitors developments of global green technology legislation through tracking current discussions, development timelines and the likelihood of new implementations.
“Determining compliance becomes more complicated when you consider temporary exceptions for individual substances and product usage, which may or may not exist by the time a new product gets to market,” Davidson said. “Building assessments of those requirements into our design choices translates to resiliency for NXP and marketable products for our customers.”
Risk mitigation is a key outcome, according to Davidson, who advocates for the team’s involvement as early as possible in the design process. “Simply certifying products isn’t enough because global regulatory requirements will change. Compliance surprises aren’t good for business, which is why our team process is so proactive.”
“We want to keep our customers profitable and their products ahead of coming regulatory changes,” she added.
For more information, visit our Environment page.
Mr. Schat has held leadership roles with NXP (and formerly Philips) since 1986 in various locations around the globe. Today he is responsible for the Sustainability and Human Rights activities of the NXP global operations and represents NXP in several associations and industry platforms. Mr. Schat holds an Engineering (Ir.) degree in Physics from the Eindhoven University of Technology.
