In-night Express supports management of returned parts for HP in Austria
03 November 2003 - 08:48 CET
In-night Express, Austria's leading logistics company for spares, handles around 1,500 spare parts for Hewlett-Packard every month. All returned spares used to be routed through HP's central warehouse at Böblingen near Stuttgart in Germany.The two companies have now introduced a new jointly-developed model for managing returned parts.
Only intact spare parts now go to Böblingen. Damaged parts that HP engineers separate from undamaged parts are taken in sealed transport bags to In-night in Vienna where the parts numbers are scanned.
The parts are then categorised as either defective parts or electronic waste and entered directly in Hewlett-Packard's system. A decision on which HP repair partner will receive the defective parts is taken on the basis of free capacity. Waste not reusable is picked up by a waste disposal company from In-night's warehouse in the Vienna suburb of Simmering.
Easing the burden on the environment by ending waste movement
The benefits of the new system include a substantial timesaving for Hewlett-Packard customers, easing of the workload at the central warehouse in Böblingen and, last but not least, a solution that is environment-friendly. It has eliminated the need to transport electronic waste across Europe because it is processed locally in Vienna.
Helmut Vater, Hewlett-Packard's Vendor Account Manager for Transportation, said: "The new way of managing returned spares in a closed, secure system means that In-night will also take over responsibility for shipping and customs formalities for parts sent for repair, resulting in a streamlining of our supply chain."
Robert Frasch, the In-night Board of Management member responsible for marketing and sales, expressed satisfaction with the new working method: "We obviously benefited in this project from our experience of co-operating closely with our customer Hewlett-Packard for many years in the field of process management." In-night supported introduction of the new system at Hewlett-Packard by producing a special manual. HP prepared its employees for the new system through internal training courses and a roadshow.
