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Finding Value in Your Reverse Supply Chain: Q & A with Supply Chain Management Review

Finding Value in Your Reverse Supply Chain: Q & A with Supply Chain Management Review

As organizations face continued pressures to drive innovation and cut expenses, managers must look beyond traditional cost-cutting measures and find the hidden value within their business. Enter: the reverse supply chain. I recently spoke with Supply Chain Management Review about the opportunity and value of this typically non-core business function. Though historically an afterthought, the reverse supply chain is a place where companies can create new revenue streams, protect their brands, and build additional sustainability into their operations. This has never been more relevant as customers and communities are calling on corporations to be more environmentally responsible.

When an asset sits idle in a warehouse, it costs storage space and loses the potential value available via remarketing or redeployment. Whether the asset has reached the end of its useful life or because it is replaced by an upgraded version, there is residual value available, and the key is in unlocking it via a strategic redeployment and resale process in the reverse supply chain. Liquidity Services’ AssetZone® is a web-based tool that enables our global clients to manage their assets globally, viewing and redeploying them across multiple locations. For example, if a large company has a forklift it no longer needs in Columbus, OH; it can list that asset as available and match it with someone in the company’s Los Angeles, CA division in need of that particular equipment. If there is no internal need for the item, then it can easily be remarketed and moved onto one of Liquidity Services’ online marketplaces for surplus.

By implementing disposition tools like AssetZone that provide greater transparency of asset information – such as location and condition – an organization is empowered to decide whether each item should be redeployed or resold and more fully benefits from its reverse supply chain. A best-in-class asset management system capable of cataloging and redeploying surplus equipment throughout the organization can also save organizations money by preventing unnecessary expenditures for procuring new equipment.

Organizations can no longer afford to reactively deal with their surplus assets and there is a clear competitive advantage for companies that are able to tap into their reverse supply chain. Please contact Liquidity Services to learn how to extract value from your reverse supply chain.