The global electronics market is moving so rapidly that we often embrace an idea before we really understand what it is. Case in point: design for environment (DfE).
Design for the Environment Program (DfE) is a United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) program, created in 1992, that works to prevent pollution, and the risk pollution presents to humans and the environment. The EPA DfE program provides information regarding safer electronics, safer flame retardants, safer chemical formulations, as well as best environmental practices. DfE employs a variety of design approaches that attempt to reduce the overall human health and environmental impact of a product, process or service, where impacts are considered across its life cycle. Different software tools have been developed to assist designers in finding optimized products (or processes/services).
The three main goals of DfE are:
Promoting green cleaning and recognizing safer consumer and industrial and institutional products through safer product labeling.
Defining Best Practices in areas ranging from auto refinishing to nail salon safety.
Identifying safer chemicals, including life cycle considerations, through Alternatives Assessment.
It is a serviceable definition with a couple of exceptions. First, DfE is now a global imperative. Second, the definition of "safer" flame retardant/chemical formulation is a moving target at best. Wikipedia is spot on when it puts electronics at the head of the list of affected industries, because electronics is squarely in the crosshairs of global environmental directives.
The term "DfE" is used extensively by electronics manufacturers, consultants, watchdog agencies, and, yes, the news media. However, as our colleague Jennifer Baljko astutely pointed out last month, there is precious little data on how electronics companies are achieving DfE. For many companies, DfE is the classic make-versus-buy dilemma. Do you develop a DfE process in-house or hire an outside firm to help? Will the resulting process apply to all your products or just the one you are working on now? Does your process comply with environmental directives such as RoHS, WEEE, and REACH? Most importantly, who decides if your process is DfE?
Three thought leaders in electronics manufacturing and the environment are collaborating on a program that will train and certify individuals and companies in DfE. The longtime manufacturing consulting firm Technology Forecasters Inc.; Graham Adams, the PlesTech founder and president who developed the EcoFly software; and Harvey Stone, an environmental consultant and author, have developed DfE Online, a self-paced certification program in electronics DfE.
The program, released last week, consists of eight modules that can be used individually or together. Each module focuses on a key aspect of DfE, including why DfE is so critical, techniques and methods for the design and disassembly of products, tools for measuring compliance, BOM guidance, ROI, and case studies/recommendations. After each module is completed, users can self-assess by taking a quiz. After all eight modules are completed, a comprehensive test qualifies users for DfE certification.
The program has been in development for a number of years and has been beta tested by electronics engineers, manufacturers, and product designers. Fees are scaled according to the number of users, so that companies of any size will be able to utilize the training. Large companies can pay a flat fee for unlimited users.
"We know a lot of companies out there in the industry are one- or two-person operations, and we didn't want the program to be cost-prohibitive for any potential users," Pamela Gordon, the founder and president of TFI, told us.
Several electronics industry groups have tested the program and are offering it to their members. The program can be customized to reflect a company's industry, products, and staff training strategy. The developers say in their press release that perhaps the most compelling reason for a self-paced program is time management. Adams described the situation this way in the release:
Until today, engineers had to search for DfE methodologies and tools in a piecemeal, time-consuming way. But, with DfEOnline, they have a centralized source of technical and business information about substance impacts, material reduction methods, energy efficiency techniques, end-of-life product strategies and tools for precisely measuring environmental trade-offs and monetary ROI.
In recent times environment engineering has come up quite well. And why not the way environment is getting polluted or disturbed these days its important that there are separate courses for it. I am sure the graduates would be never out of job. I remember way back in late nineties when someone chose this environmental engineering as main discipline we all asked why didnt you tkae electronics or computer science and the answer was becuase those seats were full. I am sure that person must be doing very well now. Coming to design for environment, I guess its so vey difficult to set any methodology and process or create any particular syllabus. As there are so many divisions inside that. But soon we got to do that.
This is very interesting as well as good news. I have a question, though, what kind of certification do they offer after completing the program? I don't think this is a PhD program.
This program is an example of the many new careers that will lead to new jobs that don't exist yet. This comes to my mind as I remember some discussions about robotics and automation, and so many people being afraid of seeing a day when robots will take all the jobs and leave humans jobless. As we see, there are going to exist plenty of new opportunities, and job positions we don't know about yet.
"I remember way back in late nineties when someone chose this environmental engineering as main discipline we all asked why didnt you tkae electronics or computer science and the answer was becuase those seats were full. I am sure that person must be doing very well now."
Indeed, that person sure have found more possibiities in the past decade within environmental engineering, a field that maybe was not so popular in the 90s, but for sure it is today, and will have much more opportunities in the near future.
I think it is a great idea to help in this area and to ensure th einformation is in one easy to access place. It is a good initiative and hopefully will be better that the piecemeal efforts of yore.
@Susan: This is one of the areas where an ethical side of engineering practices will be taught and I find it to be a much-needed area. I think it should become more popular over the years.
@_hm: I think the kind of research required for this program will be very extensive and may exceed the research conducted at undergraduate or graduate level. This is why a PhD might be a preference.
Yes. The fact that the world is developing a more conscious understanding of the environmental issues in exsitence will also help to increase its popularity. And yes, an ethical aspect of engineering practice is needed.
The certification comes from the developers of the program, which have many decades' worth of experience behind them. This really isn't an academic program attached to a university. Within electronics, there are all kinds of standards and certifications that come from individual companies, trade associations, NGOs, etc. IPC and IEEE for example, develop standards and certify users to these standards. The DfE Online team included companies, trade associations and third-parties as part of the development process. For this particular program, the developers are more than qualified to grant certification.
EBN Dialogue enables and encourages you to participate in live chats with notable leaders and luminaries. Not only editors and journalists, but the entire EBN community is able to comment and ask questions. Listed below are upcoming and archived chats.
Archived Dialogues
Thailand Stages a Comeback Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Euro-Crisis: What It Means for High-Tech Firms Join EBN Editor in Chief Bolaji Ojo and Contributing Editor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday, July 12, at 10:00 a.m. EDT for a Live Chat on high-tech and Europe's economic difficulties.
Microsoft Surface: Potential Winners & Losers What are the implications for the electronics industry supply chain of Microsoft Corp.'s decision to launch its own tablet PC? Join industry veteran and EE Times' systems and OEM expert Rick Merritt on Tuesday, July 3, at 12:00 pm EDT for a Live Chat on this subject.
Join EBN contributor Jennifer Baljko on Thursday August 23, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. EST for a live chat on how electronic manufacturers in Thailand have shored up their supply chain to reduce the impact of future natural disasters.
Peter Drucker famously said "Trying to predict the future is like trying to drive down a country road at night with no lights while looking out the back window." Yet in the razor's-edge world of electronics—with a lean supply chain and just-in-time demands—the need to know the future is vital.
While no one really can accurately predict the future, we can take guidance from another Drucker saying which is the best way to predict the future is to create it.
You've heard the saying "the No. 1 supply chain risk is your people." That hasn't always been the case. But today's complex global supply chain requires a new type of multitalented employee. It's one who understands, finance, marketing, economics, is savvy with technology, graceful with relationships and can think analytically.
Where are these people? Are universities properly preparing the next generation supply chain professionals? How do train your existing workforce for these new, demanding positions?
Brian Fuller, editor-in-chief of EBN, will lead a 60-minute Avnet Velocity panel discussion that will ask and answer these and other questions swirling around today's supply-chain talent challenges.
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