Almost two thirds of young British consumers now make purchase decisions based on the sustainability and environmental impact of the brands that create them.

This puts good product lifecycle management firmly in focus, not just as means to reduce your supply chain costs and environmental impact, but as a growing necessity to secure sales. At Unipart Logistics, we have developed a seven lens approach to our Lifecycle Management Solutions that focuses on the bottom line. We ensure all sustainability considerations from cradle to grave are met and operate fully in line with global regulations.

Our seven lens approach includes:

1. Outbound

Ensuring product reaches customers using no single-use plastic and in the most efficient way, packaged and customised in ways that support your brand message.

2. Returns

Intelligent decision modelling identifies which of the four channels returns should go down: resale, repair, return to manufacturer, or recycling. Combining this diagnosis with product knowledge, customer demand, market rate and the cost to repair/refurbish, we enable customers to process their returns rapidly to maximise their value and satisfy their customers.

3. Resale

Our diagnostics looks for the potential for resale. In many instances, we are able to sell returned products on behalf of our customers, increasing the financial yield.

4. Repair

Our technical team assess the commercial viability as well as the technical feasibility of repair. Our expert team take a product that was previously deemed unrepairable (or not of a suitable standard to return to the customer), and repair it, enabling the customer to re-use the product rather than buying a new one.

5. Return to Manufacturer

By detecting faults in stock that would result in a full refund from the manufacturer, we retain full value for the customer.

6. Recycling

Our expertise in single-use plastic removal, helps our customers reduce the impact of their supply chain whilst not compromising service or cost.Our innovative cardboard packaging solution helped one customer reduce landfill to zero and remove single-use plastic from their supply chain. Our sortation processes segregate products into the correct material groups to drive the highest levels of recycling revenue.  Our environmental team monitors the market to ensure revenue rates remain competitive. Where recycling isn’t possible we look for alternative dispositions to landfill, such as Refuse-Derived Fuel (RDF) 

7. Reduce

Our deep understanding of products means we identify the root cause of issues at initial screening, minimising the need for future touchpoints. We also feed insights into product design and work with customers and engineers to influence consumer behaviour to reduce returns. Supporting this solution is our customer-facing platform that ensures each customer gets the right resolution quickly, and avoids unnecessary lead times and costs.

Supply Chain Visibility with a data science overlay are crucial for truly understanding the lifecycle of a product, including the environmental impact it is having. We maximise the value of the product at every stage of its life and feed intelligence back into the lifecycle. Doing this promotes the creation of products that support the circular economy, reduce cost and environmental impact, whilst maintaining customer experience.