Returning Thoughts

by Paul Rupnow

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Nov/Dec 2007

Tips from the Reverse Logistics Pros in Singapore

Reverse Logistics is evolving rapidly. The Reverse Logistics Association Singapore Conference 2007 featured three days of industry thought leadership in Reverse Logistics. Below are some tips gathered from the presentations that you can use to get your thoughts flowing and improve your Reverse Logistics operations.

Explore Multiple Value Streams for Returned Product

Cisco has created a brilliant plan to transform their Reverse Logistics from a Cost Center to a Profit Center. This plan is enabling them to find innovative ways to create value from their returns. Angela Chan, Reverse Logistics Program Manager at Cisco Systems outlined in her presentation the value streams they have created:

two external sources: secondary markets and components
five internal sources (avoiding "new buys"): spare parts, test labs, infrastructure, philanthropy and customer demos

Each of these value streams has grown significantly each quarter for the last eight quarters to more than 600% of the first quarter.

Reverse Logistics as an opportunity to "Build a Competitive Advantage"

In his key note presentation, Kerry Mok, Senior Vice President, Strategy and Service Logistics at DHL Exel Supply Chain delivered an excellent presentation on the challenges and opportunities facing Reverse Logistics. In one of his many key insights, he outlined three opportunities for to enable Reverse Logistics to help your company build a Competitive Advantage:

Use the increased number of customer touch points to obtain more data and as an opportunity to build customer loyalty
Access environmentally-conscious market segments and capture new markets or increase market share
Ensure regulatory compliance "ahead of the curve" to capture "early-adopter" advantages and strengthen market position and corporate image

Assessing Repair Cost Affordability

Juniper utilizes several methods to assess if a repair is economical amongst the many hi-performance networking equipment product lines they manage. Gopal Mudivedu, Sr. Manager, Technical Operations at Juniper Networks outlined their main methods:

Repair Cost Cap: a repair cost cap is set based as a percentage of Cost of Goods for a product
Minimum Value: products below a certain cost of goods are deemed unrepairable or may be flagged to "screen and decide"
Screen in-country for "No Trouble Founds" and "simple repairs /upgrades"

Try these tips in your operations. The full presentations are available from the Publications page of the Reverse Logistics Association website.

Good Luck!

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