Returning Thoughts - What It Takes To Be a Reverse Logistics Professional

by Paul Rupnow

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Aug/Sept 2007

Five years ago very few people had heard of the term "Reverse Logistics". Recently however, more and more companies are beginning to understand Reverse Logistics and are seeing the value of managing their product returns more efficiently and effectively. This in turn is generating a new demand for Reverse Logistics professionals: people who understand Reverse logistics and can help companies capture the value and opportunities from their Returning goods.

Reverse Logistics Professional Opportunities

About two years ago, the electronics giant Cisco created a new corporate position: Vice-President of Reverse Logistics. This was the first real indication that Reverse Logistics was moving out of the warehouse and the back offices. With this appointment, Reverse Logistics took a giant leap up the corporate ladder into the offices of a vice president. At last, companies started realizing that Reverse Logistics represents a significant opportunity to improve corporate profitability. Similar new positions are now being created by many other organizations, such as Director of Reverse Logistics, Manager or Senior Manager of Reverse Logistics, Reverse Logistics Analyst, or Manager of Reverse Logistics Information Services.

With these new senior roles come many new responsibilities, not just to lead a team to tackle Reverse Logistics, but to accept that senior role as a responsibility for contributing to corporate profit. Big responsibilities typically require a solid skill set, education, training and experience, but in an area as new as Reverse Logistics, what kinds of skills are companies looking for to fill these new roles?

Unfortunately, you can not hire a Masters in Reverse Logistics (yet). Recently, there have been several postings on the Internet job search sites for jobs with a title that includes the words Reverse Logistics. In addition, there have been several others where Reverse Logistics was not the primary role, but a part of the responsibilities for that position (in areas such as logistics/supply chain, business process analyst or customer service). An analysis of some of these recent job postings indicates that many companies are looking for similar skills:

Work in a cross-functional team

• "Serves as a liaison between sales, support and operations teams to develop concepts and coordinate improvement efforts"
• "Interact with Sales Operations, Technical support and Customer Care/Support teams"
• "Interacts with all levels within the organization"
• "Ability to work and thrive in a cross-functional team environment"

Strong Analytical Skills

• "Analyze and interpret information from multiple data sources"
• "Strong analytical and problem solving skills"

Multi-task

• "Ability to manage multi-tasks"
• "Ability to prioritize and perform multiple tasks simultaneously by establishing priorities, planning ahead and anticipating potential issues in order to meet tight deadlines"

"Demonstrate the Profits, and then Take on More"

"A Reverse Logistics professional has to think strategically" says Michael Blumberg, President of Blumberg Advisory Group, specialists in researching and consulting for Reverse Logistics, "they need to quickly identify the low hanging fruit, communicate the value to the many parties inside the organization, demonstrate the profits, and then take on more".

Reverse Logistics has very quickly moved from an undesirable back office activity to a significant opportunity to enhance corporate profit. Companies need Reverse Logistics Professionals to help them take advantage of these opportunities. Do you have what it takes?

Good Luck!

Paul Rupnow writes about Reverse Logistics best practices, insights and strategies at ReverseLogisticsProfessional.com

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Aug/Sept 2007