Bryan Brady, vice president and director of the defense aerospace business unit for Avnet Americas, says suppliers have hesitated to classify a product as end of life because they do not want a bunch of returns and they don't want to inspire a lifetime buy cycle.
There are approximately 250,000 manufacturers worldwide that have designs that are over 8 years old. Many of these oems build products such as power supplies, alarm panels and test equipment. The reality is that they do not need leading edge technology because their products have simple functions.
In the European Union a number of recent legislative acts, known as
producer responsibility laws, require manufacturers to assume
responsibility for the end of life disposition of their products.
For instance, in Germany, the commercial and Industrial Waste
Avoidance and Management requires that the producer is responsible
for the end of life disposition of their products, including reuse and
recovery.
The Ministerial Bill of Ordinance on Disposal of Information
Devices is an agreement whereby manufacturers of electrical and
electronic equipment take responsibility for the recovery and end of life
disposition of their products. In the Netherlands, the electronics waste
act has similar requirements.
Some legislative acts may require the end
user to return the used product to a collection system for reuse.
The used car ordinance in Germany requires that the last owner of an
automobile deliver it to a collection center.
The requirements for firms
doing business in the Eu are clear, and these regulations may act as
entry barriers for firms not aware of the changes required for reverse
logistics activities.
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