ECIA GIPC publishes report on paperless certificate of compliance initiative

The Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) has published a report outlining the results of a two-year initiative to create a streamlined process to digitally exchange manufacturer Certificate of Compliance documents. Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) agreed to participate in the pilot project with Digi-Key. They began with the manufacturers’ certificate of compliance while considering other compliance documents.

The report from this initiative is now published and available to the industry.

The process for the exchange of compliance documentation in the electronic component supply chain is cumbersome and inefficient as it is still largely done manually. Compliance documents are currently in paper form and must accompany the components when shipped from the manufacturer to the distributor and on through to the end customer. This drives unnecessary costs with manufacturers, distributors, and customers in the form of time and effort spent locating and tracking paper documents and the actual costs of printing and handling them. Throughout the supply chain, those responsible for complying with these requirements are dissatisfied and frustrated with this inefficient process.

“In theory, this should be low-hanging fruit to save time, money, and trees by changing to digital communication,” explained Don Elario, ECIA vice president of industry practices. “However, the benefits only accrue when component manufacturers and distributors decide to participate in the new process. This is why ECIA’s Global Industry Practices Committee (GIPC) decided to take on this initiative and use their platform to bring the component industry together on this issue. Continued innovation is needed in this area.”

To this end, in 2019 the GIPC organized an SME (Subject Matter Expert) Work Group consisting of two manufacturers and two distributors to explore ways to address this problem. The goal was to design an architecture to digitally transmit compliance documentation. Analog Devices, Inc. and Digi-Key began work on a pilot program to determine precisely how to digitally transmit documents during component transactions from manufacturer to distributor to customer. This report outlines the status of the work and what remains to be done.

For more information about the GIPC, go to Global Industry Practices Committee.