In light of the growing need to understand and address environmental sustainability challenges in the electronics manufacturing industry, the IPC Chief Technologist Council this week published a white paper that serves as an educational primer and a guide to further action for electronics manufacturing companies. 

“Electronic Design and Manufacturing Sustainability” provides an overview of eight sustainability topics that affect the electronics industry: product life-cycle assessment; recycling and recyclability; bio-based polymers; modularity, repairability, and reuse; eco-design; data needs and management; energy use; and carbon footprints. 

The report also covers several changes needed to help industry move in a more sustainable direction; barriers and pitfalls on the road to sustainability; recommendations for company actions, both near-term and long-term; and more than 30 useful online references.  

“We’re hearing from our members and from industry influencers that sustainability is a matter of growing importance in our industry,” said IPC Lead Sustainability Strategist Dr. Kelly Scanlon. “Sustainability reporting requirements are already in place in many countries, and many more are being considered.

“Thus, the purpose of this white paper is to help our members begin to understand and cope with some of the pressing environmental sustainability issues affecting our industry,” Scanlon added.

The white paper is a joint product of nearly 20 industry experts from the IPC Chief Technologist Council, composed of technology leaders from OEM, EMS, component packaging, materials, and PCB companies.

Download the paper and visit the IPC Sustainability for Electronics or the IPC Chief Technologist Council landing pages, for more information.

Per IPC’s June 2023 Economic Outlook report, the U.S. economy has remained resilient through the first half of the year, despite significant headwinds from stubbornly high inflation, aggressive interest rates hikes and a number of high-profile bank failures.

According to Shawn DuBravac, IPC’s chief economist, “This resiliency probably will not last. The second half will prove more difficult, and we expect the economy to slip into recession. The New York Fed’s recession probability model is currently showing a 70 percent chance that the economy experiences a recession within the next 12 months. The current consensus calls for a minor, short-lived recession in the second half of 2023. While a U.S. recession appears imminent, it is hard to know with certainty that it will be short-lived.”

Downward revisions in Europe pushed the economy down 0.1 percent in Q1. This follows a decline in Q4 of last year suggesting Europe did in fact slip into recession in the first half of the year. Many countries in Europe are still experiencing record levels of inflation. Hungary’s inflation rate is running at 21.9 percent while Estonia has seen prices rise 11.2 percent over the last year and prices in Lithuania are up 10.7 percent over the same time period. While these are down from earlier peaks, they remain high.

          Additional data in the June 2023 IPC Economic Outlook show:

• The U.S. labor market remains strong but might be showing some cracks. While workers are receiving higher wages, up 4.3 percent over the last year, consumer prices are up 4.9 percent over the same time. Wage gains are being lost to inflation.
•  U.S. industrial production fell 0.2 percent in April, though revisions to prior months offset the decline. The manufacturing sector rose 0.1 percent during the month.
• The European economy fell during the first quarter of the year, edging down 0.1 percent in the euro area, but rising 0.1 percent in the EU. The economy is up 1.0 percent in both the Euro area and the EU compared to the first quarter of last year.
• In EU end markets for electronics, manufacturing output appears to have risen in April, up 3.7 percent from the prior month and 1.3 percent from the year-ago period.

View June 2023 IPC Economic Outlook. For more information on IPC’s industry intelligence program including current research and reports, visit www.ipc.org/advocacy/industry-intelligence.

Cost pressures continue to recede and demand remains positive, with Orders Index rising to 107, the highest level in three months, per IPC’s June 2023 Global Sentiment of the Electronics Supply Chain Report.

“Cost pressures are continuing to recede,” said Shawn DuBravac, IPC chief economist. “The majority of survey respondents are still reporting that labor costs and material costs are rising, but the number of companies experiencing rising costs declined again this month. Less than half of respondents believe material costs will rise in the coming months.”

Additional survey results indicate:

• The Backlog Index slipped further into contraction territory this month, hitting the lowest level on record.
• Over the next six months, electronics manufacturers expect to see continued increases in both labor and material costs, although to somewhat of a lesser extent with respect to materials.
• While two-thirds (68 percent) of firms operating globally report rising customer inventory, only 26 percent of firms in Asia Pacific and 28 percent of those in Europe are experiencing a current increase, with European firms instead more likely to indicate customer inventory is holding steady.
• Per special questions asked about worker recruitment and retention, most manufacturers indicate employee retention this year is comparable to 2022. Roughly 18 percent indicate retention is more difficult this year, 18 percent indicate is it easier than in 2022 and 55 percent report it is about the same.
• In an effort to hire new employees, two-thirds (66 percent) of electronics manufacturers have raised salaries/rates beyond what was anticipated, with more than half (54 percent) looking for potential employees in non-traditional places. About 39 percent report they have improved benefits packages to attract new workers.

For the report, IPC surveyed hundreds of companies from around the world, including a wide range of company sizes representing the full electronics manufacturing value chain.

View full report.