The $38 Billion Blunder: A Rebuttal

By Rick Short, Indium Corp.
In The $38 Billion Blunder, George A. Riley shares the results of third-party research involving the cost of lead-free compliance in the electronics assembly industry. I find the information interesting and enlightening. Mr. Riley first lists the areas in which the electronics assembly industry absorbed extra costs due to the switch from tin-lead to lead-free solder:

  • Labor costs
  • Inventory costs
  • Lost sales
  • Manufacturing costs
  • Continuing costs
  • Opportunity costs

    I agree that electronics manufacturers, in fact, did (and do) see rising costs in each of these areas as they switched to lead-free assembly. But, I take exception to the unsubstantiated editorializing offered in the final paragraphs. In particular, I find this statement intriguing, “

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