Harrold van Rooij | Customer and Contract Support Office, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
Our customers are asking new kinds of questions - about chemical content, industry certifications, supply chain - and Harrold van Rooij is there to give them the answers. He shows them just how green we really are.
The companies that use our products and technologies have added a new dimension to their selection process. In the same way that consumers have changed their habits, demanding “greener” products, our customers have started asking about NXP's policies concerning the environment, health and safety, and social accountability.
That's where Harrold van Rooij, whose job it is to answer these inquiries, comes in. “The companies we deal with simply can't afford to work with suppliers that don't meet international standards for sustainability,” he says. “It's a part of doing business these days.”
The change has come quickly. In 2007, Harrold received an an average of 40 queries a month. In 2008, that number nearly doubled. Questions about the chemical contents of NXP's products are the most common, but Harrold also gets asked about environmental specifications, certificates of compliance, and third-party test results that verify our claims.
There's a lot of information to deal with. NXP has manufacturing sites around the world, works with an extensive network of its own suppliers, is associated with several joint ventures, and offers about 18,000 product types. “We have to keep track of it all,” says Harrold, “and we have to make the information easy to access.” Not surprisingly, he and his colleagues have developed comprehensive data systems, connected to the company's internal and external web sites. “Our next step is to be able to upload data directly to our customer's systems.”
Harrold is a chemical engineer by training, and is intrigued by the science behind the issues he deals with. Take, for example, halogens. NXP has, for some time, been removing this group of chemicals from its products, because halogens can, when burned, release carcinogens in the air. Salvagers, especially in third-world countries, are burning discarded electronics to recover gold and other precious metals, so it's important that halogens aren't present. When customers ask Harrold if we have halogen-free products, he can answer with a definitive “yes,” and point to our Dark Green portfolio as proof. Says Harrold, “I like knowing that my work has an impact on the real world.”