Reverse logistics: Best out of e-waste Shilpa Phadnis, TNN Jan 2, 2013, 03.

41PM IST toi

abstrasct Broken electronics invariably end up in scrap yards, contributing to e-waste. Hitendra Chaturvedi saw an opportunity in that.

He decided to take those defective products be it from retailers, companies or individuals diagnose the problems, repair them, provide them some tender care, and then resell them as near spanking new. It's a business that he started in 2008, at the height of the global recession. And it has proved to be so successful that he expects to end this fiscal year with a revenue of Rs 300 crore. "It took us a while to educate customers about retailing factory seconds. But we reassured customers with a one-year warranty and genuine parts. My products are also always priced lower than a brand new product of the same make," says the IIT Roorkee graduate.

Reverse Logistics Market in India 2010 Publication Date July 13, 2010 Netscribes (India) Pvt. Ltd.

abstract The reverse logistics market in India is valued at INR 646.38 bn in 2009 and is expected to grow rapidly in the future. The need to bring about supply chain efficiency will drive the market.

The report begins with an overview of the logistics industry indicating market

size, growth and the market share of various segments. The reverse logistics market has been introduced indicating its current market size, market share of major segments as well as the percentage of GDP lost in supply chain inefficiencies. The various operational models have also been considered.

It further discusses the industries which are in need of return supply chain management solutions for providing better customer service and to increase the efficiency of overall production. This section contains a brief snapshot of the specific industries as well as the opportunities for reverse logistics players. The industries under consideration include retail, consumer electronics, automobile, pharmaceutical and print industry.

Analysis of Reverse Logistics in Soft-Drink Bottling Industry of india Muhammad Umer, Fayyaz Afzal Abstract

Globalization of economy has heightened the strategic importance of Supply Chain in diverse business environment. In today's highly competitive business environment, the success of any business depends to a large extent on the efficiency of the supply chain. Competition has moved beyond firm-to-firm rivalry to rivalry between supply chains. Management now has clear understanding that profitability of the company will be affected by mistake of any member of Supply Chain.Though reuse of products and materials is a common phenomenon, companies have long ignored this part of the supply chain, known as reverse supply chain or backward supply chain. Such reverse flow of logistical activities is known as reverse logistics. Reverse logistics is define as a Process of planning, implementing and controlling the efficient, cost-effective flow of raw materials, in-process inventory, finished goods and related information from the point of consumption to the point of origin for the purpose of recapturing value or proper disposal (Rogers & Tibben L,2006) Reverse Logistics refers to the movement of goods from the end point of usage to the initiation point in order to add more value or to dispose it.

Reverse Logistics is not limited to reusing of containers or recycling of packaging material. Reverse Logistics will not exist, if the goods or materials does not send backward Returned goods are because of seasonal inventory, damage, recalls and wrong forecasting are the major reasons of Reverse logistics. (Chuck P., 2006). Soft drink bottling industry industries are the main pioneers of reverse logistics in india. The empty bottles returned from the point of consumption back to the yard for refilling and reusability purposes. Unlike tradition forward logistics network does not support RL, though Analysis of Reverse Logistics 3 Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Business Management (ISBN: 978-969-9368-06-6)requires new horizon of backward distribution keeping efficiency and effectiveness in the entire backward chain. www.coolavenues.com/.../reverse-logistics-important-dimension

Reverse logistics gaining ground in Indian market Hitendra Chaturvedi First Published: Fri, Sep 04 2009. 12 31 AM IST Mumbai: For Hitendra Chaturvedi, all it took to wade into the relatively virgin business of reverse logistics were four questions that he, as head of the $400 million (Rs1,956 crore) original equipment manufacturer (OEM) unit of Microsoft Corp.s Indian unit, once asked his clients. He asked them the percentage of products they sold that were returned by customers, what it cost to process a return and what percentage of the value of a returned product they managed to eventually recover. Dreaming big: Hitendra Chaturvedi, founder of RLC, says everyone was so focused on forward logistics that no one cared for reverse logistics. They had no answer, and these were the VPs (vice-presidents) of supply chains and country managers, Chaturvedi, 38, says. The fourth question that scared them was, are you complying with the governments e-waste regulations? Reverse logistics is the process of moving a product from the consumerthe typical final destinationto the manufacturer, the point of origin, for re use or disposal. The process includes the management and the sale of surplus as well as returned equipment and machines from the hardware leasing business.

Shortly after Microsoft asked him to return to the US, in 2000, Chaturvedi decided it was time to start his own business, called Reverse Logistics Co. (RLC), in an industry that is just beginning to be recognized as an integral part of the business supply chain. http://www.livemint.com/Companies/NPDNqptaLGSvQF46Jg7yFO/Reverselogistics-gaining-ground-in-Indian-market.html Reverse Logistics: Waste Not, Want Not (Part II) By Patrick Burnson, Executive Editor October 31, 2011 Editors note: This is the second of a three-part web exclusive examining the latest trends in reverse logistics. Todays logistics managers are faced with three forces driving the reverse loop in distribution: Regulatory compliance, sustainable practices, and money saving strategies. Any one of these reasons will work, say business leaders, and the pay offs are similar in the extreme. Indeed, by doing the right thing companies are helping themselves while saving the planet. As noted in Part I of this series, supplier transparency is key to any reverse cycle. But supply chain scholars note that other risks must be examined as well. Diane A. Mollenkopf, Ph.D., McCormick Associate Professor of Logistics Department of Marketing and Logistics University of Tennessee College of Business Administration says the tsunami disaster in Japan highlighted the vulnerability of being too lean in terms of inventory protection levels. One also runs the risk of having too few suppliers, especially when geographically concentrated, she says. Shippers will surely be reconsidering how much inventory is really needed in the supply chain, and where that inventory should be located. Mollenkopf notes that from a reverse logistics perspective, some shippers may find that they can increase their inventory protection by more effective and timely recapture of return goods. So an effective reverse flow may help mitigate some of supply risk, she says. Shippers just need to realize the inventory potential they may have within their existing market areas. http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/reverse_logistics_waste_not_want_not_p art_ii Reverse Logistics: From Black Hole to Untapped Revenue Stream December 15, 2010

by: peerless research group Recognizing that reverse logistics can drive real impact to the bottom line, this is an area of high priority for companies looking to reduce costs, add efficiencies, improve the customer experience and build sustainable supply chain practices. As a result, manufacturers are uncovering the hidden value of returned assets and streamlining return, repair and product reallocation processes. Once a supply chain afterthought, reverse logistics has evolved into a highly complex endeavor. This is especially true in the hitech/electronics sector, where product lifecycles have dramatically shortened, global service networks create more supply chain complexity, products are highly customized to consumer preferences and sustainable practices are increasingly required. The primary driver of reverse logistics is the staggering cost of returns. In 2009, retail returns in the United States amounted to $185 billion, equal to about 8 percent of the estimated $2.3 trillion in retail products sold by members of the National Retail Federation. http://www.logisticsmgmt.com/article/reverse_logistics_from_black_hole_to_u ntapped_revenue_stream Reverse Logistics : Learn from `your returns By lorie King rogers, Associate Editor S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 0 / Modern Materials Handling the best practice in reverse logistics is to prevent product from coming back in the first place. since thats unlikely, its important to understand why goods are returned and learn how to capture the greatest value from the process. in a busy returns operation, workers scan and check in items, place them into returns totes and load them onto conveyors that route them to the proper put location.after returns have been received, scanned and entered back into the system, an aerial put system sends them back to designated storage locations, where they are available to be picked for a future order. http://www.redprairie.com/uploadedFiles/RedPrairieWorld/Press/New_Articles/ MMH1009_Best_Reverse.pdf

Acer Outlines Service and Reverse Logistics Trends Written by Paul Rupnow

Monday, 31 October 2011 Mr. Sudipto Ghosh, the Chief Customer Support Officer of Acer India provided the key note presentation in October at the Reverse Logistics Association 2011 conference in Singapore. As part of his presentation, Mr. Ghosh provided some of the key trends and challenges he is facing as the head of service in India. His insights are worthy of discussion and will be important or critical to the ongoing success of most reverse logistics and aftermarket consumer electronics service teams. The twin revolutions of the digital age and the ICT revolution (information and communications technology) are rapidly growing, changing the world and as a result creating significant challenges on our aftermarket service organizations. Additionally, Consumers are shifting more and more to the evaluation of service as a major part of their technology device purchasing decision. As a result, Mr. Ghosh outlines six key challenges and trends: 1. Contact Center Voice is no longer the primary contact level and in fact, customers even now resist telephone based customer support. Instead they prefer to find solutions themselves through online product support. 2. Social CRM Social CRM is the use of social media services, techniques and technology to enable organizations to engage with their customers according to Wikipedia. Organizations may utilize services like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or customer communities they manage themselves. The use of these new social channels to reach customers in a social network is still very much in its infancy and it is expected that by 2013 that 50% of Customer Service Centers will integrate some form of social capabilities and that by 2017 organizations that do not include Social CRM will become extinct, according to a Gartner report in May 2011. 3. Warehouse and Repair there is a trend of Touch Consolidation occurring in this area. Touch Consolidation is the reduction of partners handling the aftermarket processes, particularly the logistics and returns handling areas of transportation, spare parts warehousing, repair and RMA management. This is particularly true in India and Asia Pacific where a large geography of many countries and regions can benefit significantly from a partner with existing capabilities in many of the regions for an All-In-One Service solution. 4. Service Delivery various regions in the world require different service delivery, due to consumer expectations, infrastructure capabilities, transportation cost, transportation availability, service skills availability and labor cost. Some regions utilize mail-in, some drop points, some on site and some 2 hour service. The suitable combination of these varying demands

present significant organizing, managing and cost challenges. 5. Customer Feedback a number of popular techniques are used to collect and measure customer feedback, such as customer satisfaction, customer dis-satisfaction and net promoter score. However suitable data and results are still difficult to gauge and measure, often resulting in conflicting analysis. 6. Service Efficiency the challenge of finding a balance between the appropriate service level with a reasonable service cost to the organization is a never ending battle for all reverse logistics and service operations. As our consumer electronics and PC industries evolve into any time, any where, any information, social and media consumption devices, these challenges and trends are ones that all service organizations need to understand and tackle in all regions around the world. http://www.reverselogisticsprofessional.com/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=77&Itemid=32