Product Design and Life Cycle

2008 Highlights

• Initiated a global take-back program so customers can recycle used NI products
• Hired an environmental compliance manager, who ensures compliance with environmental regulations and examines upcoming environmental legislation to determine its impact on NI
• For printed marketing literature and events collateral at NI corporate headquarters and most branch offices, switched to paper products and suppliers certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and/or the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) Council

2008 Challenges

• Replacement options for certain hazardous substances may have an environmental impact equal to or worse than the original substance
• An audit of the most-shipped NI products found that NI can optimize the amount of packaging used by up to 80 percent
• The internal process for accepting products for the global take-back program is currently manual and might include shipping inefficiencies
• Data for all NI operations worldwide was not available in 2008, but NI will obtain data for additional branches in future reports

2009 Commitments

• Reduce material waste and costs through redesigned packaging for finished goods, including finding alternatives to foam
• Review product documentation to determine how and if NI can reduce the amount of printed materials provided with its products

Reduction of Hazardous Substances

NI is committed to releasing environmentally friendly products as part of the NI Hazardous Substance Reduction initiative. This initiative is a voluntary program modeled after the European Union Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive, which restricts the use of harmful substances such as lead, mercury, and cadmium in products.

The RoHS directive applies to eight categories of electrical and electronic equipment but excludes products in Category 9, Monitoring and Control Instruments, under which NI products fall. By complying with the directive, NI demonstrates a commitment to the environment, its employees, and its customers, who can use NI components to design and develop their own environmentally friendly products.

View the full text of the RoHS directive. For more information about NI compliance with RoHS, contact rohs@ni.com.

Timeline

Since the 1990s, NI has researched and tested methods for reducing the use of certain hazardous substances in its products. NI began offering RoHS-compliant products in September 2005 and continued with the releases of additional compliant products in subsequent years. NI manufacturing and engineering teams continually work to adapt products to use RoHS-compliant components and manufacturing processes. As of today, NI has transitioned a substantial number of core products to RoHS compliance.

The move to RoHS-compliant products is a significant effort because it impacts nearly every step in the supply chain. Therefore, NI will complete this transition over a progressive timeline as new products release and some existing products transition to hazardous substance-free components. At this pace, NI will transition all products before the RoHS directive includes the category under which NI products fall.

All products released in 2008 were RoHS-compliant, with the exception of a few select products. Starting in 2007, each exception case required officer-level approval. In some instances, high-demand products require components that are not available in a RoHS-compliant version. After these products release, NI adds them to the list of products pending a transition to RoHS compliance.

Challenges

In addition to the far-reaching impact on the supply chain, NI faces the following challenges in the process of eliminating hazardous substances from its products:

• Organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have found that the replacement options for certain hazardous substances may have an environmental impact equal to or worse than the original hazardous substance. To mitigate this issue, NI is actively involved with numerous trade organizations around the world. Through involvement with these organizations and close relationships with suppliers, NI stays at the forefront of both advanced technological developments in materials and compliance with worldwide regulations of hazardous substances. For more information, see the full EPA report.
• Regulations in this area evolve rapidly. NI is a member of the Test and Measurement Coalition and is providing feedback on the revision of RoHS currently under review and planned for publication in 2009.

Resources

Refer to the following NI resources to learn more about the RoHS directive.

• Frequently Asked Questions
• NI RoHS-Compliant Product Listing
• NI Hazardous Substance Reduction Initiative
• Management Methods for Controlling Pollution Caused by Electronic Information Products (China RoHS)
• Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive

Product Packaging and Documentation

In 2008, members of the NI Green Team, a grassroots employee-led initiative to reduce the NI carbon footprint, started an evaluation of NI product packaging. Through an audit of the company’s most-shipped products, the NI Green Team found that NI can optimize the amount of packaging used by up to 80 percent, which will result in reduced waste and expense to NI and its customers. In 2009, a cross-functional team will begin work on the following goals:

• Optimize box sizes to reduce excess packaging and dimensional weight shipping charges, which could result in customer savings because both package weight and size factor into shipping costs
• Evaluate alternatives to foam, such as suspension packaging, because foam is difficult to recycle
• Evaluate the printed documentation that ships with NI products and reduce the amount printed where possible while increasing the amount of documentation available in electronic formats

View a video about this initiative.

Highlight: Suspension Packaging Reduces Waste and Costs

In 2009, NI will switch to suspension packaging for all CompactRIO and Compact FieldPoint controllers as well as the four-slot CompactRIO chassis. Suspension packaging uses air instead of foam to cushion products, which reduces the amount of material used in the package. This new packaging contains at least 30 percent recycled content and is recyclable in corrugated hydrapulping operations. Also, it is reusable for return shipments, which minimizes waste at both ends of the distribution cycle. This change will reduce the amount of foam used by 5 percent (87 m³) per year and result in a 47 percent reduction of box size for these products.

By the Numbers

Data is from Hungary manufacturing operations only. Those operations account for approximately 98 percent of usage.

Corrugated Board Boxes Purchased for Product Packaging

2007 (kg)	2008 (kg)
157,199	200,901

Foam Used in Product Packaging

Foam Type	2007 (m3)	2008 (m3)
Polyethylene	71	437
Polyurethane	747	1,249

Export Policy

It is NI policy to ensure all export and re-export sales or shipments of its products and technical data are in accordance with the following regulations and requirements:

• Export Administration Regulations as governed by the U.S. Department of Commerce
• Dual-Use Export Control System as governed by the European Union
• Any and all applicable local export regulations in the U.S. and the country of export

The NI Global Trade Compliance department monitors activity, provides training internally, and works with NI customers and local governments to ensure full compliance.

Product Take-Back and Recycling

In October 2008, NI announced a new no-charge service that gives customers the option to return used NI hardware products to be recycled. Through the NI global take-back program, NI covers all costs of returning the products and ensures that the products are properly recycled. This service helps reduce the impact on landfills and other disposal sites and provides an environmentally safe end-of-life solution.

To send hardware products to be recycled, customers can e-mail recycling@ni.com, and NI staff will reply with information on how to ship the product. After the product is recycled, NI also can provide a Certificate of Destruction upon customer request.

Product take-back regulations are constantly evolving. Current regulations do not require NI to take back its products. However, by launching a global take-back program, NI demonstrates a commitment to the environment and its customers by helping them dispose of NI products responsibly.

Visit ni.com/recycle to learn more about the NI take-back program.

Challenges

NI announced this program in late 2008, so few customers have participated at this point. As more customers participate in the program, NI will look for opportunities to improve, including but not limited to the following:

• The internal process for accepting a product is currently a manual process. If customer demand increases, NI will consider adjusting the process.
• Shipping inefficiencies might exist. In the current process, the customer ships the product to NI, and NI ships the product to the recycling vendor. If customer demand increases, NI will consider adjusting the process so the customer ships the product directly to the recycling vendor.

WEEE Directive

In 2003, the European Parliament and the Council passed Directive 2002/96/EC on waste electrical and electronic equipment - the WEEE directive. The goal of the directive is to encourage the reuse, recycling, and recovery of this waste and to improve the environmental performance of all operators involved in the life cycle of electrical and electronic equipment, especially those dealing with waste equipment.

Member states were required to adopt legislation by August 13, 2005. The regulations apply to all electrical and electronic equipment put on the European Union market after that date. WEEE products can fall into one of 10 categories according to the WEEE directive. NI products fall under Category 9, Monitoring and Control Instruments.

View the full text of the WEEE directive. For more information about NI compliance with WEEE, contact weee@ni.com.

Implementation by EU Member State

NI is actively working with NI branch offices and subsidiaries in Europe to fully comply with these regulations as local legislation passes. Select a member state for the latest information about WEEE implementation.

• Austria
• Belgium
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Malta
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• UK

Battery Directive of the European Union

The European Parliament and the Council adopted Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators with the intent of reducing the impact on the environment and increasing recycling. Member states were required to adopt national legislation by September 26, 2008. NI is actively working with NI branch offices and subsidiaries in Europe to fully comply with these regulations as local legislation passes. The directive entails obligations such as labeling, registration, recycling, and restriction of batteries containing cadmium, lead, and mercury.

The labeling of batteries consists of the following symbol, including the battery capacity, and the chemical symbol for cadmium, mercury, or lead if contained above the legal threshold limits.

Battery Directive Label

The symbol indicates that the batteries used in the product should be disposed of separately from municipal waste. For NI products, the predominant battery type is coin cell, which provides continuous power for constant memory. These batteries are incorporated or embedded into appliances, are intended to last for the life of the product, and are separated from the appliance during the treatment phase of the appliance as required under the WEEE directive. Certain NI products are accompanied by removable lead-acid/alkaline batteries that are also for continuous power supply. Please check the product user manual regarding removability.

NI continually attempts to ensure proper collection and recycling by joining collection and recycling schemes. The company expects customers in the European Union to use the collection and recycling systems in place and properly dispose of all batteries. Proper disposal of batteries reduces the environmental impact and risk to human health. For additional information about the potentially harmful effects of substances used in batteries on human health and the environment, visit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

For information about the available collection and recycling scheme in a particular country, refer to the WEEE Directive section of this report.

View the full text of the battery directive. For more information about NI compliance with the battery directive, contact weee@ni.com.