Endress Hauser has banished lead from all electronic components – primarily printed circuit board manufacturing - in its ongoing products portfolio, voluntarily complying with a recent European directive aimed at protecting human health from the effects of this extremely harmful heavy metal. Good corporate citizenship is a key priority for this privately owned company, which has now reduced its future lead consumption to only a few kilograms per year – achieving a massive saving of 1.5 tons per year. ‘We are facing up to our responsibilities as a company and reducing the burden on the environment,’ commented Klaus Endress, global CEO.

Since lead accumulates in our bodies over the course of our lives, even tiny doses are dangerous and can eventually result in lead poisoning, which affects virtually every system in the body — the central and peripheral nervous systems, kidneys and blood. High concentrations can be fatal. Children are particularly at risk because their bodies metabolise lead differently.

The incorrect disposal of electronic devices containing traditional lead-based solder is a significant cause of environmental lead pollution worldwide. Lead leached out by acid rain eventually seeps into the groundwater and enters the human food chain. Eliminating the use of lead is therefore a serious responsibility for all manufacturers of electronic devices.

Since July 2006 the EU’s RoHS guideline (Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances) has required the European electronics industry to find lead-free alternatives for soldering. As a manufacturer of measuring equipment, Endress Hauser is exempt from these requirements. Nonetheless, explained Klaus Endress, ‘we want to meet the requirements of the RoHS guideline voluntarily – for the sake of the environment and our health’.

Endress Hauser has invested literally millions of dollars over two years in preparing for this major conversion. The project team built on over a decade of experience with lead-free alloys, which it first developed for the successful Liquiphant level limit switch back in the 1990s. Working together with the Technical University of Munich and the Swiss system makers Kirsten Soldering AG, the Endress Hauser team developed an alternative silver solder, soldering paste and soldering unit. Preventing ‘whiskers’ – fine, needle-shaped crystals that can cause short-circuits – proved a challenge, but the biggest problem was the need for higher soldering temperatures. Since temperatures that are too high will damage the component, the temperature window for the soldering process is extremely narrow.

The conversion to lead-free engineering across the wide Endress Hauser range has been highly complex, requiring the adaptation of a host of manufacturing processes, tools, machines, components, supply chain factors, logistics and IT processes. The new technology has been introduced step by step across the portfolio, with two million lead-free components having already been manufactured. The very few exceptions are being phased out, and all new products are developed in accordance with the EU guidelines.

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