Thursday, 21 September 2006

IPC OEM Committee Begins Work on Lithium-Ion Battery Cell Standard

IPC―Association Connecting Electronics Industries has announced that its OEM Critical Components Committee has agreed to begin work immediately on creating a standard on the manufacturing process and quality control of lithium-ion battery cells.
“We believe the development of a standard on the manufacturing process and quality control of lithium-ion cells not only aligns our efforts with other work being done on standards but can make a significant contribution in battery quality and reliability,” said Anthony Hilvers, IPC vice president of industry programs.

John Grosso, director, supplier engineering and quality, sub-tier and critical commodities, Dell, will chair the effort. The goal of the committee is to work with all stakeholders to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in lithium-ion battery quality. The committee met on the topic earlier this week in San Jose, Caliornia. Attendees included representatives from Dell, Polycom, Lenovo, and Hewlett-Packard Company.

The committee intends, within the next month, to reconvene with their companies’ content experts and other industry experts. The committee indicated they would engage the entire supply chain in the development of the standard. The committee hopes to release the standard by the second quarter of 2007.

The companies are trying to allay consumer fears after a handful of batteries in notebook PCs overheated, some bursting into flames and injuring their users. However, their efforts may be hindered by the absence of Sony Electronics and possibly Apple Computer as well, since those companies may not abide by the standard without having an opportunity to help draft it. Sony wouldn't commit to following the IPC advice until it collects further information, said Sony spokesman John Dolak.