Inventory Management Europe

A new study from Uswitch has revealed that the UK is the second-highest contributor to E-waste in the world, behind only Norway, generating 36,681 tonnes of household waste electrical and electronic equipment in 2021 – a 15% increase compared to 2020

That works out at roughly 23.9Kg of E-wasted generated per capita.

Inventory Management Europe – a brief history in space and time
IME – founded with the sole purpose of reducing E-waste by extending the life of IT equipment in the circular economy.

The Founder Doug Ashby is credited with bringing the concept of using refurbished IT equipment instead of new to Europe in 1988 when he founded his first company Computer Parts International (cpi). Inventory Management Europe (IME) was founder in 2006 after the successful sale of cpi.

Fundamentally IME purchases redundant, end of life and excess computer systems and parts from large corporates who have replaced older IT equipment, from manufacturers who have over produced inventory or have made existing inventory end-of-life. This is all equipment that historically could have ended up in landfill in the UK.

To ensure total traceability, IME developed its own in-house software D.O.R.I.S  to record the history of a machine or part from start to finish that being either the selling of the fully tested and refurbished system or part or if not possible, the disposal in an environmentally green way.

Case study – Where there’s muck there’s brass!
Image the excitement when that brand new shiny car arrives at the dealer ready for you to collect. It sparkles in the sunlight, that unreproducible ‘New car smell’ when you sit inside it. But what about my old car, well this mature industry has a multitude of regulated ways of disposing of your old vehicle, unlike the relatively new computer industry.

How many companies have a room full of redundant computer equipment, following upgrades or changes, or worse, a relationship with an unregulated scrap man who turns up (no questions asked) with a roll of cash. IME will purchase this excess equipment and either refurbish it and sell it as a complete systems or break down to sell as parts to over 100 countries or where the equipment is too old, have it environmentally disposed of with all precious metals being extracted for reuse. Payment for this can be either as a one off straight agreed price for the equipment, or as a profit share mechanism where both parties benefit from the overall profit achieved. IME’s inhouse software DORIS will track each step of the process, for traceability, including engineering, packing and final destination, recording receipt and where appropriate E waste documentation

Why opt for refubished equipent?
Its often said that refurbished parts and machines will never last as long as new equipment. IME has so much faith that this statement is incorrect that we offer the same warranty as manufacturers offer on new equipment. In fact, most manufacturers insist on you returning the defective item back to them before they ship a replacement, not at IME. In the unlikely event that you have a warranty request, IME would send a replacement straight away. Dealing with the defective item as the secondary process.

Extending the life of your product
We have many clients who have been able to support their IT infrastructure long after the manufacture has made the product obsolete, extending the return on the investment made. Older equipment can be upgraded with more memory, CPUs or disks.

All parts and systems are tested to manufacturer’s standards with hard disks being wiped to NIST 800-88 specification using either EraseIT® or Certus® software. The results of all tests are stored on IME’s bespoke software and is available for review by clients.

IME carries just under 200,000 computer parts, mainly in our Witney, Oxfordshire distribution and test centre with a further 30,000 parts stored in our Paris facility.

However, the most important point of refurbished used equipment is of course the enormous cost saving which can be huge compared to that of purchasing new.

All our product is packed in new boxes with labels identify the part or system with serial number and if required, the logo of our client. In fact, we can customise packaging and labelling to individual customer requirements.