Trust but verify: handheld XRF analyzers can address manufacturers’ issues with the CPSIA
drew on Jun 11th, 2009Recently, the Consumer Products Safety Commission denied a petition by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) for a one year delay in the planned labeling requirements for children’s products that Congress ordered in the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) of 2008. I suspect that since manufacturers are nervous about the limited time they have to roll-out new lead testing practices, handheld XRF analyzers are going to be of more and more interest to them.
Supply Chain Digest had an interesting article on the petition, including NAM’s broader opinion on the issues the CPSIA is causing for manufacturers. I don’t want to keep re-hashing what I’ve already written about this topic, but the fact that this article was so focused on manufacturers made me think more about supply chain issues that ultimately demand more checks and balances. Whether you agree with this particular legislation or not, the thinking that manufacturers should know what is in their products (and that the amount of certain elements and compounds contained in those products should be regulated) is not totally off-base, so I encourage you to check out the article and let us know your thoughts.
President Reagan had a favorite phrase throughout the Cold War – a Russian proverb: “Trust, but verify.” These days that slogan is used a lot when talking about the need for better risk management practices in a company’s global supply chain, and supply chain executives are wise to adopt it as their own mantra. It’s easy to forget that the issue at hand is not just the CPSIA and how to regulate the amount of lead in childrens’ toys and consumer products – but that international regulations call on manufacturers to be responsible and accountable when it comes to what is in their products – especially when some of it can be hazardous to the people ultimately buying those products.
=Drew
