GoodBye Chain Group’s MDW-ES Product Environmental Compliance Software Wins SMT’s 16th Annual VISION Awards Competition for Second Consecutive Year

LAS VEGAS, NV, April 3, 2008 – The GoodBye Chain Group’s MDW-ES Product Environmental Compliance Software has been selected as the winner of this year’s SMT VISION Award in the Design and Manufacturing Software category. Instituted in 1991, the SMT VISION Awards honor the products and technologies that have shaped the PCB manufacturing industry over the past year.

“We would like to congratulate The GoodBye Chain Group for winning the VISION award in the Design and Manufacturing Software category for the second consecutive year. Every step and contribution to Product Environmental Compliance software technology is quite an amazing thing. The time, energy, and intellect given to new ideas in this area often go unnoticed. Therefore, we are especially happy to take a few moments out of the hectic pace of IPC APEX to applaud The GoodBye Chain Group for winning this prestigious award for two years in a row,” states Gail Flower, Editor-in-Chief, SMT Magazine. “SMT is the industry’s cutting edge technology journal that recognizes those who make major innovative contributions to the industry.”

“For the past 5 years, The GoodBye Chain Group’s product compliance management software, MDW, has been one of the leading software solutions for all companies needing to comply with all global RoHS Directives and their customer-driven toxicity requirements,” said Jim Dills, Managing Director of GCG. “Companies can now utilize MDW-EcoSystem (MDW-ES) to cost effectively comply with REACH’s voluminous legal and business requirements, including minimizing the supply chain/business disruptions expected to occur under REACH.”

MDW-ES allows companies of all sizes throughout the supply chain to: 1) immediately build their own internal REACH-ready substance libraries; 2) identify substances that are operationally critical to both their products and manufacturing processes; 3) highlight and find substitutes for any of the likely 3000 substances of very high concern that will be restricted or banned; 4) store in one central location MSDS forms, testing reports, and other REACH-related documents; 5) track volumes, substance applications, and the many other substance-related data points needed for REACH compliance.

VISION Award Selection Criteria
Nominees for the SMT VISION Awards are evaluated on ability to meet a significant industry challenge, creative application of a new or existing technology, overall quality and consistency of performance, economic merits, and throughput characteristics. Products are judged specifically on innovation, cost effectiveness, speed/throughput improvements, quality, ease of use, maintainability/repairability, and environmental responsibility.

The winners of the 16th Annual SMT VISION Awards were announced on Wednesday, April 2, 2008 at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Convention Center, Las Vegas, at the annual awards ceremony.

About SMT /PennWell Corporation
SMT magazine offers greater technical depth than any other publication of its type, providing an up-close look at the electronics industry for OEMs and MS providers who design, assemble, and test surfacemounted printed circuit boards. Through the print magazine, E-Newsletter, and website, our readers get the latest information and analyses on technological developments and industry trends in materials, components, equipment, and methods for surface mount assembly. SMT is published by PennWell Corporation, a diversified business-to-business media and information company that provides quality content and integrated marketing solutions for the following industries: Oil and gas, electric power, water, electronics, semiconductor, contamination control, optoelectronics, fiberoptics, enterprise storage, fire, emergency services, and dental. Founded in 1910, PennWell publishes 75 print and online magazines and newsletters, conducts 60 conferences and exhibitions on six continents, and has an extensive offering of books, maps, web sites, research, and database services. In addition to PennWell’s headquarters in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the company has major offices in Nashua, New Hampshire; Houston, Texas; London, England; Campbell, California; Fairlawn, New Jersey; Moscow, Russia; Schwabisch Gmund, Germany; and Hong Kong, China.

About The GoodBye Chain Group
Initially, GCG focused on assisting companies to turn their waste streams (“goodbye chain”) into revenue streams. Today, it is the only company with six years experience/100% specialization in RoHS, WEEE, REACH, and other Product Environmental Compliance Directives and a fully integrated software-and-managed service solution grounded in customer engagements. GCG has worked with many customers in the high-tech, medical, industrial, consumer, and other industry sub-sectors. It received SMT Magazine’s 2006 and 2007 Vision Awards for “Software”; conducted RoHS/WEEE trainings in China and Australia, as well as North America; organized multiple RoHS workshops for the Surface Mount Technology Association; served on the IPC 1752 Working Committee for RoHS; and co-authored a major report for the National Institute of Standards and Technology. GCG was the only US consulting company to attend major WEEE conferences in Brussels and Prague. GCG was the only US company invited to speak at an EU stakeholder meeting in Italy regarding the Integrated Product Policy and the response of US industry to WEEE and RoHS compliance requirements.

Contact Information

Pandre Nichols

Press Release Contact

The GoodBye Chain Group

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