Letter from the Editor

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Edition 15

I talk about reverse logistics all the time – to family, to friends and to complete strangers sitting next to me on airplanes. Most (family and friends), know little or nothing about RL and occasionally a stranger will be somewhat familiar with the concept but not necessarily the term. I certainly take advantage of the opportunity to enlighten. Sometimes, I even learn something new, myself.

I get together with one of my closest friends Sue, a couple times a week to walk the track at our neighborhood high school. Chatting non-stop makes the time and miles pass quickly and we often talk about our work. I’ve shared with her about our association and what we do for our members including how we are “matchmakers” between OEMs/retailers and the service providers that can help them with their RL needs.

Sue works in a local hospital ordering what I teasingly call “body parts.” Although she had never heard the term “reverse logistics” before I started talking about RLA, she has come to realize that she is actually involved in the reverse logistics process.

On a daily basis, she orders parts – corneas, veins, hips, knees, etc. While actual body parts cannot be returned, other parts or instruments used during a procedure can and are returned for a variety of reasons, including duplicate orders, expired items or a change in standard practice for a particular procedure which requires changing out all instruments and parts supporting that part.

Two interesting points have come out of our discussions:

• that many items, if appropriate to do so, are returned to their provider. Provider then sorts, cleans, tests, restores, sterilizes, repackages, cycle tracks/applies new expiration date and then returns to the hospital for future use. This is most-definitely reverse logistics.
  
  
• Many items cannot be returned, so the hospital donates to resource organizations like Globus Relief. Globus Relief gathers, processes and distributes medical and other humanitarian supplies to charitable organizations around the world through disaster relief efforts and also through medical and dental facilities serving the daily needs of the less fortunate.
  

This too, is reverse logistics.
Just one more example of how RL touches the lives of individuals everyday.

Best regards,

Christine Morrow
Editor, Reverse Logistics Magazine

Reverse Logistics Magazine, Edition 15