Our customers are increasingly asked to account for the footprint of what they buy, and they pass that question to us. This page answers it: what our process does to the environmental profile of a flexible circuit, how we treat the people who work here, and how the company is run.
We have written it so that the figures can be checked. Where a number rests on our own calculation rather than on an external review, we say so.
1. WHERE OUR CONTRIBUTION SITS
The environmental case for DP Patterning is in the process, not in an offset or a purchasing policy.
Conventional flexible circuits are made by etching, which removes unwanted metal with chemicals and rinses the result with large volumes of water, or by printing conductive inks, which are usually based on silver.
Dry Phase Patterning removes the metal mechanically and dry. There is no etching bath, no rinse water and no silver ink. What is removed is metal that can go back into a material stream rather than into a chemical waste stream.
That single design decision is what the figures below come from.
2. ENVIRONMENT
2.1 Energy and emissions
We calculate that the process reduces energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions by up to 98 percent compared with conventional etching.
Read that number carefully, because we would rather it be understood than repeated. It compares the patterning step, it assumes conventional etching as the alternative, and the result varies with design, material and volume. "Up to" means the best case in that comparison, not a typical one.
The calculation is our own. Independent verification is on our list, and we will publish the basis and the result when it is done. Until then, customers who need a figure for their own reporting should ask us for the calculation behind their specific product rather than use the headline number.
2.2 Chemicals and water
The process uses no etching chemicals and no process water for patterning. For a customer, that removes a chemical waste stream, the permits attached to it and the handling risk that comes with it. Chemicals we do use elsewhere in the operation are handled under the rules that apply to them.
2.3 Materials
We work with aluminium, copper-clad materials and paper. We do not use silver or other precious metals. Aluminium and copper are widely available and traded openly, which matters for price stability as well as for sourcing risk.
2.4 Recyclability
Because the conductor is solid metal on a defined substrate rather than a metal-loaded ink spread through a polymer, the material can be separated at end of life. That is what we mean when we say the electronics are recyclable. Whether a given product is actually recycled depends on the collection system where it ends up, which is outside our control.
2.5 Waste
Metal removed during patterning is collected and returned to a material stream. We sort production waste and follow up on the volumes.
2.6 European production
We manufacture in Norrköping, Sweden. That shortens the distance between us and most of our customers, and it puts the production inside EU environmental, chemical and labour regulation, which is itself part of the answer when a customer audits their supply chain.
3. SOCIAL
This chapter summarises our work environment policy, our equal treatment policy, the annual equal treatment plan and our procedure for harassment and victimisation. Those documents are internal. We provide them to customers and auditors on request. They cover employees, managers, consultants, interns and hired staff, and they apply at the workplace, on customer visits, on business travel, at company events and in digital communication.
3.1 Health and safety
Our aim is a workplace that is sound physically, psychologically and socially. We investigate risks, assess them, act and follow up, regularly and ahead of any change to the operation. Incidents and injuries are reported and investigated so that the cause can be dealt with.
The work is carried out jointly by the employer, the employees and the safety representatives. Managers are given training, resources and authority to act on the work environment rather than only responsibility for it, and every employee is introduced to it when they start. We also work actively with health promotion.
Our work environment policy states that legislation is a minimum level and that we aim to keep improving beyond it, organisationally and socially as well as physically.
3.2 Equal treatment
We do not accept discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment, victimisation, bullying or exclusion. Decisions on employment, pay, development, promotion, training, allocation of work and termination are made on objective grounds, regardless of the seven grounds in the Swedish Discrimination Act.
Beyond not discriminating, we take active measures and document them at least annually, in four steps: investigate, analyse, act, follow up. The analysis looks at ways of working, structures, norms and decisions, not at individual personalities, and every measure has a named owner and a timetable.
The areas reviewed each year are working conditions and workload, pay and terms through an annual pay survey, recruitment and promotion, training and development, the ability to combine work with parenthood, and the risk of harassment.
Some of what that means in practice: requirement profiles are kept free of unnecessarily excluding criteria, job advertisements are written inclusively, interviews follow a structure, external recruitment agencies are held to the same requirements, development opportunities are followed up in documented reviews, and meetings are planned around the school and nursery day.
3.3 If something happens
We have a written procedure, built on the Work Environment Act, the provisions on the organisational and social work environment, and the Discrimination Act.
A report can be made to a manager, that manager's manager, HR, a safety representative or the managing director. HR leads the investigation, holds separate conversations with everyone involved and documents the process, which is handled confidentially. The person affected has the right to a support person, and no measures are taken without their consent unless safety requires it. Measures range from mediation to termination of employment, and a criminal act may be reported to the police. We follow up within a month, including on whether anyone has faced retaliation for reporting.
Nobody may face negative consequences for raising a concern or taking part in an investigation. That applies to our own people and to anyone working with us.
3.4 Skills and employment
The process is our own, so the people who run it are trained here. Development is followed up in documented reviews. We employ on written terms under Swedish law, and we respect the right to organise and to union representation.
3.5 Our supply chain
We expect suppliers to meet the standards in our Code of Conduct, including on labour rights and responsible sourcing, and we ask where material comes from. Our material base sits largely outside the conflict minerals question, since we do not build on tin, tantalum, tungsten or gold.
We support the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the core conventions of the International Labour Organization, in our own operations and in what we ask of our suppliers. We require material suppliers to declare what their material contains, so that customers can meet their own obligations under chemical and product legislation.
4. GOVERNANCE
4.1 Values and Code of Conduct
We act according to our values: Pioneer, Integrity and Grit. Our Code of Conduct puts them into rules that can be checked, covering bribery, gifts, conflicts of interest, competition, export control and sanctions. It is reviewed at least annually.
4.2 Raising a concern
The reporting routes in section 3.3 are open for any concern about how we work, not only for harassment cases. Reports are handled promptly and confidentially, and retaliation against anyone who reports in good faith is treated as a breach in its own right. Customers, suppliers and other external parties can raise a concern at info@dppatterning.com.
4.3 Product integrity
Test data and certificates we issue are accurate, and we tell a customer when we find a quality problem after delivery. Material is bought through legitimate channels with traceability.
4.4 Data protection
Personal data is handled as set out in our GDPR / Privacy Policy.
5. WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON
We would rather list this than leave the gaps for someone else to find.
- Independent verification of the energy and emissions figures, and publication of the calculation basis.
- Product-level data that customers can use directly in their own reporting.
We will update this page as each of these lands, and date the change.
6. DOCUMENTS AVAILABLE ON REQUEST
Our work environment policy, equal treatment policy and annual equal treatment plan, and the procedure for harassment and victimisation, are internal documents. We provide them to customers and auditors on request.
Ask at info@dppatterning.com.