WASTE MINIMIZATION IN ELECTRONIC-COMPONENT PROCESSING - A SYSTEMS-APPROACH

Environmental concerns over waste disposal and efficient utilization o f manufacturing process materials, together with evolving state, feder al, and international government policy on these issues, have led to t he conceptual development of a ''smart'' systems analysis for tracking process materials flow, consumption, and the generation of waste or b y-product (per unit of manufactured product), at each step in the manu facturing process. Of particular interest to the authors is the manufa cture of electronic components, which involves many process intensive, semicontinuous, and repetitive wet chemical and physical operations t hat define circuit patterns on polymer, ceramic, or silicon substrates . The value of the application of systems analysis concepts for enviro nmental considerations to complex sequential manufacturing operations lies in its capability to ascertain materials how, consumption, and wa ste generation at all times, at the individual process step, manufactu ring line, or factory levels, and to provide process optimization and control from an environmental perspective. A proposed architecture for the application of systems analysis in a typical manufacturing proces s line in a UNIX System environment is illustrated. A major element in corporated in the platform is the ''smart'' module, which provides int elligent manufacturing systems assessments having environmental impact at both the micro and macro manufacturing levels, and recommends proc ess alternatives or control using knowledge of best available process technology.