Ecology and PCB manufacturing. Four Key Areas

To be honest, we sometimes get tired of the way “green” issues and sustainability have found their way into almost every area of human activity. We are also amazed to see companies that have been proven for years to be major polluters of the air or the landscape around us suddenly adding paragraphs on environmental issues to their strategic documents and chanting about sustainability. Perhaps that is why we decided to take a comprehensive look at the broader context of sustainability in PCB manufacturing and shed some light on four key areas where this connection makes sense.

Sustainability in PCB Manufacturing and Environmental Impact

The first is undoubtedly regionality and localisation. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, we spent almost three decades developing the concept of the global village. Alongside technological development, it became possible to source raw materials and products globally, find suppliers and customers across the planet and, above all, “optimise resources”. Typically, this meant avoiding expensive labour in North America or Western Europe and instead using cheaper labour on the other side of the planet. From the perspective of sustainability in PCB manufacturing, however, this model is now being reconsidered.

Companies also looked for the cheapest and fastest transportation routes. The risks of this approach were overlooked for a long time because anyone who did not follow this model was simply not competitive. The limits of globalisation became clear only in the wake of lockdowns, the pandemic, the US-China trade war and the raw materials crisis.

The transportation of goods “across the planet” began to grind to a halt, and many companies began to realise first-hand that regionality could make sense in many ways. This is also an important consideration for sustainability in PCB manufacturing, and this effect is likely to intensify in the future.

Why?

Because the concept of Industry 4.0, and the increasingly discussed Industry 5.0, is based on extensive automation across all parts of production. What may sound to some like the apocalypse of the traditional way of working has a significant side effect. If 500 people worked in a Chinese factory in the recent past, and roughly the same number in a Czech factory, the cost of human labour was an absolutely crucial factor in the total cost of production. As automation advances, sustainability in PCB manufacturing can become increasingly connected with the economic efficiency of production.

If there are only 50 such employees today, and perhaps just 15 in the future – mainly specialists who must be paid well above average anywhere in the world – labour costs will no longer be the most important part of the final price. On the contrary, logistics, delivery times, pressure to reduce the carbon footprint and the overall sustainability in PCB manufacturing will become increasingly important. This creates an opportunity to move production back to the regions from which it moved far to the east some time ago.

The second major chapter is the environmental impact of manufacturing. In this respect, there is an analogy with many other things we encounter in everyday life. Some time ago, it was common to have an extremely inefficient Freon refrigerator at home or drive cars that consumed litres of fuel. Then a new equation emerged in which being greener also became economically beneficial – and the paradigm changed. The same principle increasingly applies to sustainability in PCB manufacturing.

Printed circuit board manufacturing is no longer a black box when it comes to its environmental impact. At least in Europe, it is a tightly controlled area that is continuously being improved. Manufacturers have to find ways to treat chemicals that could pollute water and to recover and reuse energy wherever possible.

At the same time, each newly purchased machine can significantly reduce energy consumption compared with its ten-year-old predecessor. Production is also monitored by increasingly sophisticated information systems that help prevent downtime. These measures show how sustainability in PCB manufacturing can benefit both the environment and the manufacturer, who can reduce costs as a result.

Environmental Standards and Sustainability in PCB Manufacturing

The third major issue is the strict environmental standards to which customers from the automotive, aerospace, medical device and electronics industries have committed. Naturally, this pressure is passed down the supply chain to manufacturers. There are plenty of examples: packaging materials, chemical composition and printing processes are all being addressed. In this respect, sustainability in PCB manufacturing is increasingly becoming part of the requirements that suppliers must meet.

Paperwork is also disappearing, with documents, technical information and manuals increasingly being exchanged electronically as PDFs.

Similarly, a good manufacturer has a configurator system that allows all relevant information to be entered directly into production as efficiently as possible, without unnecessary additional costs. Digitalisation therefore supports sustainability in PCB manufacturing not only through lower paper consumption but also through more efficient production processes.

So, what direction should we take? One of the major topics is biodegradable printed circuit boards. In short, researchers are looking for ways to manufacture electronics that do not end up in landfills or nature but can instead degrade under suitable conditions. Millions of tonnes of electronic waste are generated around the world every year. This makes biodegradable materials an interesting area for the future of sustainability in PCB manufacturing.

For now, biodegradable PCBs remain more of an academic topic than an everyday manufacturing solution. However, researchers at the University of Illinois have already developed a functional PCB designed to break down when exposed to water. Such developments show that sustainability in PCB manufacturing is not limited to reducing energy consumption or improving production efficiency but can also influence the materials used in future electronics.

The Future of Sustainability in PCB Manufacturing

Looking ahead, there is therefore no reason to be overly sceptical. The cards are not as bad as they might seem. With greater automation and the continued development of digitalisation, there is a prospect that production will move closer to its markets, further reducing the overall environmental footprint of manufacturing.

At the same time, the most influential companies are likely to put increasing pressure on their suppliers to comply strictly with environmental requirements. There is also hope that new technologies will help reduce the growing problem of electronic waste.

One thing is certain: actions, not words, will decide the future of sustainability in PCB manufacturing.