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Chapter 4: Competitiveness

This chapter of the Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment (CTSA) presents information on basic issues traditionally important to the competitiveness of a printed wiring board (PWB) manufacturer: the performance characteristics of the making holes conductive (MHC) technologies relative to industry standards; the direct and indirect production costs associated with the MHC technologies; the federal environmental regulations affecting chemicals used in or waste streams generated by a technology; and the implications of an MHC technology choice on global competitiveness. A CTSA weighs these traditional competitiveness issues against issues business leaders now know are equally important: the health and environmental impacts of alternatives products, processes, and technologies. Section 4.1 presents the results of the Performance Demonstration Project. Section 4.2 presents a comparative cost analysis of the MHC technologies. Section 4.3 lists the federal environmental regulations affecting chemicals in the various technologies. Section 4.4 summarizes information pertaining to the international use of the technologies, including reasons for adopting alternatives to electroless copper worldwide.

4.1 PERFORMANCE DEMONSTRATION RESULTS [147K PDF file]

4.2 COST ANALYSIS [426K PDF file]

4.3 REGULATORY STATUS [213K PDF file]

4.4 INTERNATIONAL INFORMATION & REFERENCES [13K PDF file]

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For Volume I in its entirety [4,508K PDF file]

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