Hello Greg,

Sounds like a worthy effort. Also sounds like a few of those in the forum have some thoughts on the matter already. Here a couple of extra cents worth...

One method of maintaining US competitiveness would be to continue to use traditional manufacturing technologies rather than adopting needless, counter productive and net environmentally negative fads such as lead-free. (I would not use legislation as an excuse. Bad legislation, however well-intended, needs to be changed or amended, not honored.  To do less is to do a disservice both to the industry and the environment)

This approach seems especially appropriate as there now appears to be a growing consensus in Europe and Japan (apparently picking up on some US discussions) that recycling is the ultimate solution to concerns over potentially toxic metals such as lead and silver which are found in most electronic solders. If this holds true, all of the lead-free solder issues are moot.  

Moreover and perhaps more important, our industry's legacy electronics burden demands a specific recycling remedy.  Having only one or two major alloys of very similar composition seems a highly rational way to address the problem now and into the future. (as opposed to having up to a dozen or more options)

Staying with traditional solders seems also to be the most rational approach to maintaining relative productivity. It allows the manufacture to avoid all of the costly bakes, the use of solder specific assembly lines and line slow downs due to longer preheat and soldering cycles while minimizing the risk of product damage and reduced reliability due to the higher heat requirements of most lead-free solders.

What we need most desperately is to apply common sense.

When I think of the lead-free effort and compare it with recycling I am reminded of the story about the little boy who observed the situation of a truck stuck under a bridge and he saw how the tow truck operator struggling to pull the truck out. After watching for a little while he simply said "Hey mister, why don't you let the air out of the tires"   
;-)

Kind regards,
Joe