Hi Ed,
It’s nice to hear from you again. See my comments following your questions below. Let me know if you agree or not or have additional questions. I’m hoping others will chime in and give their opinions, too. If not, that’s ok, too. Best regards, Ron Pickard RPQ Consulting Glendale, AZ 85303 +623.512-3451 tel, +623.848-9033 fax rpick...@rpqconsulting.com www.rpqconsulting.com <http://www.rpqconsulting.com/> www.linkedin.com/in/RonPickard ________________________________ From: emc-p...@ieee.org [mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Price, Edward Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 9:34 AM To: owner-emc-p...@listserv.ieee.org Cc: emc-p...@ieee.org Subject: RE: Electrical product recall & request ________________________________ From: emc-p...@ieee.org [mailto:emc-p...@ieee.org] On Behalf Of Pickard, Ron Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2009 6:56 AM To: Scott Xe Cc: emc-p...@ieee.org Subject: RE: Electrical product recall & request Scott et al, Compliance engineering is a term to describe the engineering activities to ensure that products conform to these regulations. In that aspect, compliance engineering does mimic the legal profession. Ron Pickard Ron: In companies where there is a specifically designated Compliance Engineer, what do you see as the trend in the depth of knowledge of such an engineer? [RP] Engineers tend to focus over time into a specific area of design, manufacturing, quality, reliability, etc. engineering and then specialize into a specific discipline in those areas. Compliance engineers are not really that different in that they specialize mainly in the design/test engineering discipline in the specific areas of product safety, EMC, RF, telecom, RoHS, WEEE, etc, and adding various country requirements as another dimension to this mix, but recent harmonization has lightened that aspect a bit. And, I see the depth of knowledge being dependent on the compliance engineer’s committed/designated area(s) of responsibility (typically the more areas, the less depth), the compliance engineer’s ability(ies), and the how much the employer’s willing to fund the compliance function internally including the # of in-house compliance staff. Does this person hold technical responsibility for issues of safety, EMC, ROHS, etc, as you would expect of an engineer? Or is the scope so broad that the person acts more like a manager or coordinator of other specialists (designers and possibly outside vendors), more toward the lawyer end of the scale? [RP] This is how I see it. A typical design engineer is ultimately responsible for his design and the inclusion of compliance (EMC and safety, etc.) optimally into the design at an as early as possible stage. RoHS/WEEE involves not just the product design, but the whole product design/manufacturing/admin/etc process, including everything from procurement to landfill avoidance. The compliance engineering function affects the whole company and is [1] an engineering function to understand the technical issues, design constraints, etc and introduce design change recommendations to ensure compliance, [2] a management function so that internal and external organizations are informed of the implications of non-compliance and that compliant designs are developed, tested and manufactured to ensure continued compliance on time and within budget (cost reduction efforts and unannounced part substitutions can be nightmares), and [3] a consultancy function where the compliance engineer works with internal organizations to provide needed pertinent and up to date compliance information to ensure that those applicable internal processes/functions provide for continued compliant products. However, if I were to generalize, I would say that a compliance engineer responsible for 1 or 2 disciplines (EMC & safety) would typically have a high engineering/consultancy focus. A compliance engineer responsible for more that 2 disciplines would likely have a high engineering/management/consultancy focus with a primary focus on management. Maybe I was misspoken by stating that compliance engineering sometimes mimics the legal profession. The compliance engineering function is focused on the technical conformance side of the law, however the legal profession is focused on the legal side of the law. Maybe there are multiple sides to the law. To a lawyer, that could either be good fortune or a nightmare. Regards, Ed Price ed.pr...@cubic.com <blocked::mailto:ed.pr...@cubic.com> WB6WSN NARTE Certified EMC Engineer Electromagnetic Compatibility Lab Cubic Defense Applications San Diego, CA USA 858-505-2780 Military & Avionics EMC Is Our Specialty - This message is from the IEEE Product Safety Engineering Society emc-pstc discussion list. To post a message to the list, send your e-mail to <emc-p...@ieee.org> All emc-pstc postings are archived and searchable on the web at http://www.ieeecommunities.org/emc-pstc Graphics (in well-used formats), large files, etc. can be posted to that URL. 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Website: http://www.ieee-pses.org/ Instructions: http://listserv.ieee.org/request/user-guide.html List rules: http://www.ieee-pses.org/listrules.html For help, send mail to the list administrators: Scott Douglas <emcp...@ptcnh.net> Mike Cantwell <mcantw...@ieee.org> For policy questions, send mail to: Jim Bacher <j.bac...@ieee.org> David Heald <dhe...@gmail.com>
