Environmentally-conscious disk drives

Technology advancements have resulted in a number of environmentally measurable improvements in IBM disk drives. Large gains in such areas as power consumption, heat generation, and floor space per gigabyte have made them one of the great bargains of the computer world. In addition, eliminating hazardous chemicals in processing, using aqueous cleaning and incorporating modular designs come as a result of environmental and life-cycle considerations. Setting up an environmentally-conscious product (ECP) team on their plantsite has allowed them to bring these concepts to product design, product development and manufacturing groups. An environmental specification for materials has been written detailing what chemicals and materials to avoid in processes and products. This paper illustrates how the IBM plant in San Jose, USA has used environmental concepts in improving disk drive products and manufacturing processes