Sanmina-SCI's 'Green' Services Initiatives Prepare Customers for Environmental Regulatory Compliance

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 11 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sanmina-SCI Corporation (NASDAQ:SANM), a leading global electronics manufacturing services (EMS) company, today announced its "green" services initiatives are successfully helping original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) comply with global environmental protection initiatives such as the European Union's (EU's) RoHS (Restriction of Certain Hazardous Substances) and WEEE (Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment) legislations. The EU Directive requires the removal of a number of hazardous substances, including lead and other materials, from electronic components, products and assemblies by July 1, 2006.

Over the past three years, Sanmina-SCI has continued to advance its technology leadership role by proactively developing and implementing RoHS-compliant processes, including lead-free manufacturing and component procurement, while managing the environmentally sound recovery and disposal of waste from electrical and electronic equipment. Currently the majority of Sanmina-SCI's global manufacturing sites are ready to manufacture RoHS-compliant products. Furthermore, the Company continues to successfully partner with its customers in developing a "green strategy," bringing these organizations in alignment with environmentally friendly programs to ensure compliance well before the July 2006 deadline. For certain Asian customers, Sanmina-SCI has been shipping lead-free assemblies for over 18 months.

"Sanmina-SCI has a clear understanding of the impact of RoHS and WEEE on its customers' business model and technical processes," said Terry Walters, Vice President of Operations for Plantronics. "Over the past year, Sanmina-SCI has been extremely helpful in our lead-free conversion strategies and we expect to be fully compliant with the EU's environmental legislation by the July 1, 2006 deadline."

Sundar Kamath, Chief Technology Officer of Sanmina-SCI, EMS Division, commented: "Our customers are in the challenging position of having to comply and convert their electronic products to meet the EU Directive. By working together with our customers and suppliers on a proactive basis, we're able to not only adopt environmentally friendly processes and products, but help our customers manage costs and minimize risks associated with product conversions of this nature." Kamath continued, "Customers find Sanmina-SCI is unique in these respects due to our vertically integrated business model, which leverages a collective wealth of manufacturing technology and know-how across various commodities. As a result, Sanmina-SCI is able to develop customized compliance roadmaps that span the key system components, from PCB fabrication and cables to enclosures and memory modules. Our RoHS and WEEE compliance services span all functional areas -- including new designs, legacy design revisions or upgrades, engineering and manufacturing support, validation and regulatory approvals, and logistics."

Mike Shannon, Senior Vice President of RoHS/WEEE Compliance for Sanmina-SCI added: "It's Sanmina-SCI's goal to assist our customers in transitioning their products to this environmentally enhanced world in the most efficient and cost-effective fashion. In order to accomplish this, we've assembled a dedicated, multi-disciplined task force to partner with our customers and align each with the RoHS/WEEE Directives as they evolve in all geographic areas worldwide."

The Sanmina-SCI RoHS/WEEE program and "green services" initiative has stringently focused on materials scheduled to be banned under the European Parliament Directive 2002/95/EC, which includes lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. In addition to industry-leading internal programs, Sanmina-SCI participates in industry and customer-focused lead-free consortia initiatives such as the National Electronics Manufacturers Initiative (NEMI) and IPC/JEDEC committees. Sanmina-SCI's objective is to encourage and facilitate the open exchange of ideas and technology that will address the needs of our global environment today and in the future.