ANSI/ESD S20.20: What Packaging Buyers Should Ask

Confirm the requirements for your actual component and process before ordering.

ANSI/ESD S20.20 concerns an electrostatic discharge control program. Buying one item labelled ESD-safe does not establish that an entire facility or process meets the program requirements.

Start with your program owner

Ask the person responsible for ESD control to identify the applicable standard revision, handling environment and packaging acceptance criteria. Purchasing should communicate those requirements to the supplier rather than infer them from a product name.

Separate the documents

• A company certificate has a defined organization, scope and validity period.
• A product test report identifies a particular specimen, method and result.
• An approved packaging drawing defines the configuration being purchased.

Request the documents relevant to the order and check that product identifiers and revisions agree. Do not treat a general quality-management certificate as evidence of a specific package's electrical performance.

Record what must be approved

Your enquiry should identify the intended use, required test evidence, sampling expectations and who can accept a substitution. Keep the resulting approval with the purchase specification.

Reference: EOS/ESD Association overview of ANSI/ESD S20.20. This article is a purchasing checklist, not the standard or a certification claim.