Welcome back my beloved iPod

Citation

Quariguasi, J. (2009), "Welcome back my beloved iPod", Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 20 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/jmtm.2009.06820aaa.001

Welcome back my beloved iPod

Article Type: Viewpoint From: Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Volume 20, Issue 1

In a number of tales, stories and plays, the climax is reached when one of the characters undergoes an experience of profound redemption. Charles Dickens’s “The Christmas Carol”[1] is one such story, in which Ebenezer Scrooge is a greedy bitter old man who devotes himself completely to the accumulation of wealth. On Christmas night, he is visited by three spirits, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future. After undergoing this supernatural experience, the character becomes again the generous and kind-hearted person he used to be in his youth. In the morning, Mr Scrooge buys his associate the biggest turkey available, donates money to charity and appears on Christmas Eve at his nephew’s house, where he is warmly welcomed.

In the consumer electronic business, MP3-players, cameras, and personal computers can also have a “second chance.” Equipment that is returned for warranty reasons, purchase regret, or simply because they are no longer wanted, are, in some cases, remanufactured and diverted back to consumers. The list of companies engaged in remanufacturing is extensive. IBM (2007) remanufactures its computers (Fleischmann et al., 2003) and resells them via its online shop. Apple Computers also remanufactures its computers, as well as its iPhones and iPods (Apple Computers, 2008). Kodak’s (2008) remanufacturing activities range from small one-way cameras to business equipments. Third party companies are also very active in remanufacturing. Companies such as Blue Ship have been remanufacturing IBM machines for more than 20 years (Blue Ship, 2008) and Recellular, the global leader in the used cellular phones industry, claims to have remanufactured (and recycled) tens of millions of mobiles since it started in 1991 (Recellular, 2008).

Academia has also paid close attention to remanufacturing in the last ten years. During this time, almost 200 papers have been published in the main European and US operations research and operations management journals under the titles of closed-loop and reverse logistics (Rubio et al., 2008). Traditional problems, such as facility location (Fleischmann et al., 1997, Fleischmann, 2000), optimal economical lot schedule (Tang and Teunter, 2006) and inventory management (van der Laan et al., 1999; Fleischmann et al., 2002) have been adapted to incorporate reverse flows. It is fair to say that these investigations have broadened our understanding on how to manage reverse flows. Conversely, little has been studied on how to market such returned products (Guide and van Wassenhove, 2003; Rubio et al., 2008).

One important question still remains very much unanswered;, i.e. how to seduce consumers to purchase remanufactured products? This is certainly a million dollar question for the consumer electronics business. Consumers demand a big discount for remanufactured electronics compared with the price of their new counterparts. For instance, take Apple’s iPod. In the UK, a remanufactured iPod Touch 16GB costs US$199, almost 30 percent cheaper than a new one (Apple Computers, 2008) [2], although Apple claims that the products are exactly the same [3]. It is fair to assume that indeed the two are equal, and it is even reasonable to speculate that the remanufactured product is more reliable – since it has been tested when manufactured, when first used, and finally after remanufacturing. Furthermore, the remanufactured product enjoys a one year warranty. Making remanufactured products more attractive is not only good for business (Apple, in our small example) but also for the environment. Take computers for instance. Research indicates that increasing their life span is the most effective way to mitigate their environmental impact (Williams and Sasaki, 2005; Williams et al., 2008). Therefore, making remanufactured computers more attractive to consumers is one of the so-called win-win, “low-hanging fruit” situations (Orsato, 2006) where profit is increased and the environmental impact is reduced.

I would like use the editorial to incite the readers and collaborators to answer one single question: “How to seduce consumers to buy remanufactured electronics?” Academics and practitioners still have a big challenge to make remanufactured electronics as attractive as new ones. This is the challenge I invite the readers to embrace in this Editorial. I sincerely hope these once faulty, unwanted products have the appreciation they deserve. Maybe after redemption of remanufacturing they will become the wanted gifts they were once. Maybe they will be invited for Christmas. Just like Mr Scrooge.

João QuariguasiBradford University School of Management, UK

The complete name of the tale is “A Christmas carol in prose, being a ghost story of Christmas”.An equivalent new iPod Touch would cost US$269.“Apple certified. Good as new” (Apple Computers, 2008).