Message from the President

by Gailen Vick, Reverse Logistics Association

Reverse Logistics Magazine, May/June 2007

The cover of this edition of the Reverse Logistics Magazine graphically depicts the search that OEMs and retailers undertake to find third party service providers. Over the years I’ve noticed that manufacturers try their very best to simulate all the resources they have to meet the needs of their growing reverse logistics requirements. What happens if you don’t know any vendors that can support you in your existing or new reverse logistics requirements? That is one of the challenges today of reverse logistics professionals—the difficulty in finding partners that can help you reach your objectives to support the needs of your customers, while at the same time assisting in the growth of your company. We hope that you will look at our RL Quote request for information process.

Over the past two years, since we introduced RL Quote, we’ve seen a number of retailers and OEMs benefit from the process. The amount of time that it has taken for them to prepare a statement of work has been greatly reduced, all at the same time increasing their awareness of the many worldwide vendors that exist in the area of service that they need. Companies like Lexmark, VTECH and Home Depot are just a few companies who have benefited from this RLA service.

Almost every week, I’m invited to visit the reverse logistics operations of manufacturers, retailers and third party service providers that are supporting OEMs. I’m always amazed at what I see; some operations should be given an "A+" while others, well an “F” would be too good of a grade. I’m always encouraging everyone I meet to look for best practices. But this is difficult when you’re trying to manage the day-to-day operations, while at the same time trying to find new ways to improve your processes. There isn’t enough time in anyone’s schedule to do both, that’s why we have our conferences and expos along with our RL Seminars and Workshops. These events give everyone a chance to share best practices while making good contacts from companies that are your counterparts from a noncompetitive environment.

During my site visits, it is apparent that some mistrust exists between vendors and suppliers in the reverse logistics process. This is always counterproductive and leads to destructive outcome. For those companies that have created an open environment for exchange of best practices between the manufacturer and third party service providers, the outcome is always the same: great customer satisfaction, reduced process time and costs, and finally a better working environment.

I hope this edition of RL magazine will be a catalyst for opening new ideas on your internal process of selecting partners and vendors.

I look forward to seeing our old friends at Reverse Logistics Conference & Expo in Amsterdam while at the same time making some new friends!