Case Study: IBM eliminates the reverse supply chain black hole with Returngoods

IBM - Customer Case Study

IBM, a major global technology company, faced a significant challenge in its reverse supply chain operations. The process for managing returned products was a complete "black hole" with no visibility between the issuance of an RMA and the final accounting, as their SAP system lacked crucial tracking functionalities. To address this, IBM partnered with the vendor Returngoods to implement its cloud-based solution for managing the complete reverse logistics process.

The Returngoods system provided end-to-end visibility, directing technicians through configured repair routes and capturing critical data on testing, diagnostics, and scrap. This streamlined process eliminated the black hole, providing management with real-time inventory tracking and delivering valuable failure analysis data to engineering teams. The solution also substantially improved the time-to-remarket for refurbished products, creating a new revenue stream for IBM. Returngoods’ cloud-based nature allowed for easy deployment at IBM's international centers with minimal training.

IBM

James Moskus

Program Manager