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In the United States, and around the world, new standards are emerging around the handling and shipping of lithium batteries. The United States Department of Transportation (DOT) Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) HM-224F ruling became effective earlier this month in hopes of providing clear instructions on safe handling and transportation of lithium batteries.
Lithium batteries are the power source of choice in many electronics applications that need performance and reliability (from notebook computers and tablets to cameras, medical devices, cell phones, power tools and electric cars). At the same, the batteries can be hazardous to ship and demand special treatment when shipped by land, sea, and air.
In addition to DOT regulations, other emerging standards will impact OEMs shipping products between countries. For example, recent actions by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has resulted in additional restrictions including prohibiting lithium metal batteries aboard passenger aircraft as of January 1, 2015.
There is great concern that commercial airplanes don't have the fire fighting equipment to manage problems, Bob Richard, vice president of regulatory and government services at Labelmaster told EBN in an interview. Many airlines are being proactive and conservative. For instance, Qantas, Air France and Emirates will no longer accept lithium metal batteries on cargo aircraft.
“The airlines are being pressured by pilots and are taking more conservative approaches and implementing their own restrictions around lithium batteries and that make a huge impact on supply chain,” Richard said. “I'm worried particularly about healthcare applications and those manufacturers not being able to get their products into the hands of customers.”
Concerns also about when these batteries are shipped by sea. “OEMs don't want to put these batteries in ocean cargo because the products can be exposed to salt water environment and overseas shipping is not quick and reliable,” said Richard.
At the same time, many electronics OEMs already have safeguards in place to keep shipping safe. “Safety is key but regulators have to be aware of implications to supply chain,” said Richard. “While the battery and electronics industries have an outstanding track record of safely shipping lithium ion batteries, there have been incidents mainly the result of less scrupulous shippers involving poorly packages, improperly manufactured and tested batteries and non-compliant shipments.”
HM-224F is designed to align provisions around batteries in the United States with international students, such as International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Technical Instructions, the International Maritime Dangerous Goods (IMDG) Code and the UN Model regulations. The standard reduces the acceptable allowances for shipping lithium batteries and outlines packaging, as well as marking/labeling requirements.
At the same time, if electronics OEMs fail to package shipments containing lithium batteries properly, carriers are likely to reject the shipment and bring the supply chain to a grinding halt. Further, failure to comply can result in delayed and returned shipments, and even fines, Richard said.
It's critical, then, that OEMs change their procedures around packaging and handling lithium batteries and products containing lithium batteries. Now, shippers must track a variety of information including: the types of lithium batteries being shipped, their electric capacity, the number of pieces, and how they are packaged.
Richard offered a list of the changes that the standard makes:
- 12/24 Exception Eliminated – Old provisions stated that if a package contained no more than 12 lithium batteries or 24 lithium cells, no hazard mark or documentation was required. The new regulations do not include this 12 battery/24 cell relief, which means many of shipments will now be regulated as Dangerous Goods. In addition, the new provision distinguishes between modes of transport with regard to the size of the package and type of mark required.
- New, Simplified Proper Shipping Names and UN Numbers – To align with international standards, PHMSA has adopted alternative proper shipping names for lithium ion and lithium metal batteries and new UN numbers.
- Low Production Runs and Prototypes – The new regulations make it easier to ship prototypes. Special provisions for low production lithium cells and batteries and prototype lithium batteries by air were deleted and replaced by a new provision that's more aligned with international standards. This change will alleviate the need to secure approvals from PHMSA for ground and rail shipments of prototype and low production cells and batteries, but manufacturers still need approval for shipments by air.
- Watt-Hours Replace Equivalent Lithium Content – Under the previous regulations in the 49CFR, shippers needed to know the “equivalent lithium content” of the batteries being shipped. The new regulations replace equivalent lithium content with the more standard measure of watt-hours.
- Cells and Batteries Packed With/In Equipment – When packed with equipment, a lithium battery may be placed in inner packaging that meets the Packaging Group II performance requirements. For lithium batteries contained in equipment, the packaging is no longer required to be waterproof.
- Shipping Lithium Cells or Batteries for Disposal/Recycling – The final rule provides relief for cells and batteries that are transported by motor vehicle. In addition, small or medium batteries that would have been classified as fully regulated are now exempt when transported by motor carrier.
- New Paperwork Retention for Manufacturers – Lithium cell and battery manufacturers must create a record of satisfactory completion of the UN testing prior to offering the cell or battery for transport
HM-224F will bring big changes to the way lithium batters are transported in the United States. At the same time, there's hope that, as organizations put systems in place, that these same regulations will streamline shipments domestically and internationally. In the meantime, the industry needs to turn its attention to the issue of compliance. Richard said:
One of my concerns that is shared by the industry and some regulators is the constant tightening of the regulations while those that ship non-compliantly are not held accountable for their actions. Additional restrictions will only impact compliant shipments, it does nothing to stop those shippers who deliberately don't comply with the requirements from continuing to ship non-compliantly and it most likely increases the likelihood of such poor behavior putting the public at greater risk.
Let us know your thoughts on these issues. How do you think lithium battery regulations will help or hinder the electronics supply chain?
— Hailey Lynne McKeefry, Editor in Chief, EBN 
It costs me approx $25K to fully test a particular battery pack. Change a cell, retest the pack. Change a major component, retest the pack. I want safe packages for my customers; however, soon nobody will want to be making products, only testing products because that is where the money will be going.
H-1b is mostly used by Offshore Outsourcing companies to remove jobs from the United States.
The reason why we run out of Random Access H-1b visas each year, is because Offshore Outsourcing companies stuff in an excess number of H-1b visa requests, in order to game the system.
The reason that an Offshore Outsourcing company can do this, is not because they have an excess number of talented people and innovation jobs available in the U.S. They can do this because they have an over-supply of just average talent and many-many positions in the U.S. that amount to little more than on the job training positions.
And the typical trainer for those jobs, is the person that is being replaced by a lower-paid H-1b workers. (and we know this from LCA data in the Molina Healthcare case).
Any increase in the number of H-1b visas will simply be taken up by the Offshore Outsourcing companies. This was true in the past decade, true during the Great Recession, true now, and will be the case in the future. Because getting Americans to train their H-1b replacement and then moving the entire department overseas is extremely profitable.
Offshore Outsourcing companies do not hire Americans for jobs on U.S. soil. Southern California Edison had a capable IT crew of 500. All of this crew were replaced by people coming in on an H-1b from Tata and InfoSys, and being trained by the person they were replacing. Ironically a spokeman for Tata, Benjamin Trounsen, is quoted as saying that Tata actually has a hard time find qualified U.S. citizens. A statement which flies in the face of all the evidence. Well Ben I suggest you take a look at the people being replaced by trainees at Southern California Edison.
The reason why legitamite business are deprived of H-1b visas, is because of the over subscription by Offshore Outsourcing companies. The I-Squared bill would compound that madness, because it does not address the over subscription by Offshore Outsourcing companies.
Offshore Outsourcing companies are not legitamite, they are violating U.S. immigration law, which states that american workers must not be distressed by immigration policy. Clearly American IT workers are being distressed by U.S. immigration policy, right now at Southern California Edison, but the Obama administration is doing nothing. The Obama administration is not enforcing the actuall law, the result is thousands of unemployed U.S. Stem workers.
In addition to this travesty, hundreds of H-1b visas were diverted by InfoSys and Tata for this job-destruction at Southern California Edison. H-1bs that could have been used by start-ups to create jobs, but were instead used to destroy jobs in the United States. And that is completely insane!
If you are small business, that actually tries to hire local, but can't. The I-Squared bill will not help you. The Offshore Outsourcing companies will be taking up all the H-1b visas, as they did last year and in the last decade.
What American business needs is to give priority for H-1b access to companies that can actually attest, under penalty of perjury, that they are actually trying to hire Americans. The Offshore Outsourcing companies can't do this, and they know it, so expect a fight on Capitol Hill over it, but that is the only way. And recent History proves it.
I've added a link to an article that exposes the way that tech hiring firms use the H-1B visa program to exploit skilled foreign workers. The story was originally published by The Center for Investigative Reporting. Here's the link:
http://bit.ly/1CErTjY
This is a sad situation that should be addressed by lawmakers. Having said that, though, the upside is that many talented foreign-born STEM workers have been hired through the H-1B visa program, and these skilled workers have made an enormous contribution to the U.S. tech sector.
To the owner of e-mail address , thanks for your response to this story.
@soccermike, thanks for weighing in. That's a big ticket item. Is there a better way for the indudstry to handle this issue, do you think?
nice post
@luvlingo, thanks for weighing in. It is certainly a complicated matter. What do you think needs to happen to turn this around?
After having read the post and the comment, i can't help but think that the comment is actually right. I just want to provide a perspective from the eyes of an Indian.
I've done my masters in electrical engineering from US and returned back 10 years back when there was a huge ruckus about how there'll be a reverse brain drain and more R&D will be there in India which'll usher in a new era of india as a world power.
10 years later, i can't wonder at the hapless situation india is in, with no R&D, no products, no new ideas and nothing to show for, except a few IT skills which anybody with enough common sense can pick up. Only service industry is there with people crunching in mindless code for some requirement specifications which are written by some person in US. It seems like the real brains behind the entire process and the control lies with the US instead of a shift in control which i expected and which was predicted 2 decades back by the entire world.
Even Japan when they started off by selling boxy cars in US, took cues from US automobile manufacturers and started churning out on-par or better vehicles when compared to Ford, GM et al. Ditto with Sony, panasonic in electronic industry. Other countries like south korea has followed suit with Hyundai, Samsung and LG. I see a earlier fast and furious movie where Hyundai is mocked at and even before the sequels are over, they are on par with toyota & honda.
Lets come to the US economy now. FYI, GM & Ford's presence in India is also there and along with japanese, korean, french and russian automotive manufacturers. they've bulldozed local competition from hapless Indian automotive industry who are not investing on technical innovations. Only recently they are catching up, you know how ? By hiring foreign talent to do their designs for them with only manufacturing plants here.
The way i see it, the money made by IT professionals in India is being sent back to the US by means of US and other countries dumping their products in the name of modernization in India. India is not getting modernized, it is becoming the consumer of products from all over the world. It doesn't seem to have solid foundation in any sector, be it economy, science or engineering or whatever sector you can think about. When Michio Kaku said that H1B is making a difference in American Industry, he wasn't kidding. Directly or indirectly, US is gaining from shipping jobs to india or hiring talent by H1B.
When I look at the semiconductor industry, as usual, there was a lot of noise from US about how japanese and chinese are taking away the jobs from US. But, despite all that, Intel & AMD are the only leading CPU making companies and the closest competitor in CPUs is ARM, but that too only for mobiles. If i look at the revenue difference between Intel and ARM, it is appalling to say the least, with Intel having assets worth atleast 100 times that of ARM. It might be more, but i'm not too sure.
IT industry : Yahoo, Hotmail and other sites are not facing competition from foreign. They are facing competition from google, which, once again, is indigenous to US. Ditto with oracle and other companies. Can you name any homegrown software from India which is being used all over the world ?
After all this tirade, all i can say is, I also detest the fact that there is an increase in H1B visas and there is only going to be more of brain drain from india.
For US, your real competition is going to come from China, where the PhD candidates are encouraged to go to US to study and asked to come back to invest the acquired knowledge in China. How I wish India had a forethought like that !?!?!?!
FYI : When i was studying MS there, i had an american researcher who was the go-to-guy of all the foreign students. Since the time i came back 10 years ago, i see that he has grown in stature in his chosen profession and is leading a research team with loads of research funding and here I'm wondering why i came back to India at all, since I've not made any difference here by coming back, because my knowledge is not required/utilized.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experience. i'm wondering whether you think that India's Make in India wil have discernable benefit to the country? It seems like some semiconductor manufacturing has been started with the effort (Make in India Taking Vision to Reality for Indian Semiconductor Manufacturing )
Being an active contributor or a leader in any sector will/should make a difference to that country, right ? Taiwan, with its tiny population/resources is 19 or 20th largest capitalist nation interms of GDP. Without thriving semiconductor sector is this possible at all ?
And regarding the semicon industry, intel was supposed to have setup a fab in Hydrebad sometime in 2006. Yet to see the lights of that.
Hapless,
I want to thank you for your comments and sharing your basic frustrations with the EBN Community.
Since we are a Global community and dealing with a most critical issue of Global Supply chains here your Comments are most helpful to Supply Chain Pros to understand the intricacies of this rapidly changing space.
What I have learnt from my time dealing with an International Workforce here in America is that different Nationalities have different quirks and different ways of doing things.
For instance ,whenever I deal with Chinese Pros they tend to be extremely driven,hard-working and super-focussed and Determined on achieving their objective(above all else).They are also extremely confident in their own abilities and talk less and work harder.You will always get a response from a Chinese Pro for a work-related query even on Saturday night at 11PM.
When I deal with Indian Pros they tend to be extremely Intelligent,Sharp and always on the Look-out for Short-cuts or the fastest/easiest way of doing things.Nothing wrong in that approach also but it may not always be the best way to solve a problem.Here they also seem to be low on self-confidence and need constant support/Goading/encouragement to keep working.Consequently,the folks with low-esteem tend to talk more and work less.
Trying to get them to work on Weekends is a Mixed Bag-Some Do very easily;Some Don't.
When I deal with Hispanic Pros they usually tend to be a Mixed Bag;Some very Good some not so.But they are'nt always
the most industrious of the Lot.And when its Soccer Season on?Its impossible to get them to focus on anything else….LOL!!!
When I deal with the American Pros they tend to be focussed on the job during the work-week but the moment its Friday 6PM;they are totally unavailable for anything till Monday Morning 9AM.
However,Its close to impossible to get them to answer a Phone Call or Email during the Weekend especially for Emergencies (unless their job profiles clearly stated such) and most are generally unavailable on Weekends.
Anyways,these cases are Generalizations which I have come across in my work and need not be true for all cases Globally.
So coming back to Chinese Pros vs Indian Pros.
One important difference I have noticed is Chinese Pros are much more Self-confident (they let them work do the talking) while Indian Pros need to talk a lot especially to cover for their low sense of self-esteem.
Why is that the case?
Could it be that with the One-child Policy in china,one kid gets showered and pampered and encouraged by 3(sometimes 4 Generations) excessively while Indian kids are usually not only children so
their self-esteem may not be built up to the same level as Chinese kids?
I don't know but thats for you(as an Indian to answer).
Why did I bring about the lack of self-esteem issue in India here?
Maybe,India did'nt have the Infrastructure(or a supportive Environment in place) previously but that's starting to change(and decisively now).
On EBNs own Twitter feed I recently came across three major Annoucements which clearly show that India is definitely
starting to look up as a Centre for Manufacturing Globally.
1)Foxconn the Contract Manufacturer for Apple,RIM ,Motorola and many others plans a $6 Billion Mobile Manufacturing
facility in India
2)Xioami (China's largest Phone Manufacturer) plans a $1 Billion Mobile Manufacturing facility in India
3)Ford Motors is all set to make India the Export Hub for its Small Cars and Small SUVs(this comes after Hyundai,Renault
&Suzuki already have done so).
4)India's Home-grown Mobile Manufacturer -Micromax is the Largest Selling Brand of Mobile Phones in India today(surprassing
such world-renowned Names like Samsung and Apple in the Process).
5)World Renowned Food Manufacturers like Mars Inc and Ferrero Rocher have made India their Export Hubs for the Asia-Pacific region.
Are you trying to tell me that all these Mega-conglomerates have no clue what they are doing in India?
If Foxconn were to announce such a Large Investment in America,Believe me all 52 states would start a Bidding war to ensure that Manufacturing Facility landed up in their State(with
the possible exception of California and Illinois but that's a totally different story).
Is Micromax the No.1 Company in India only because their Phones are the cheapest?[When Microsoft decided to give away their Mobile OS for free,the first
company they chose Globally for entry-level phones was Micromax;it was a similar Story when Google decided to launch its cut-price Android One range of Phones].
Obviously,the initial attraction came because India is the only Large Growing market today.
But beyond that the talent pool and conducive Atmosphere for these Manufacturer's matters immensely.
The Foxconn case story is most interesting.It seems that the State/Province where Foxconn decided to establish their
Facility did'nt have a Good Enough Airport(with Export facilities) nearby.
So guess what they did?
They have contributed 200 million Dollars(from their own pockets) to upgrade the existing Airport to make it capable for Exports!
And the Governor/Prime Minister of that Province went out of his way to make it happen!
Obviously,when you are starting something from scratch to expect everything to happen overnight does'nt happen.
You have to build scale slowly-slowly.The great thing about India is that's precisely what's happening now.
Since you are an Indian-I will just say this much-Believe in It! And Make it Happen!
All the Best!