The growing concern over the possibility of lead elimination from electronics solders has prompted the initiation of several studies by various groups. The same basic approach is a feature of most of these efforts — a programme of alloy development aimed at finding a new alloy which may substitute for most, if not all, applications for tin‐lead. Many factors must be considered in such an approach and these are outlined in the present paper, along with some consideration of the alloys available. An alternative approach of process adaptation is also presented.