How a delivery company helps speed turnaround time on cell phone repairs
Cell phones and their wireless cousins are proliferating in the U.S. – and so are cell phone returns. A November 2002 study by industry group the Reverse Logistics Executive Council estimated that 128 million cell phone units were sold in 2001, and that 15% of them were later returned by consumers for troubleshooting or repairs. That created a problem for repairs vendor Entronix International that shipper Airborne Logistics Services, a subsidiary of shipper Airborne Inc., and the Internet are helping to solve.
Under an agreement with Airborne, MN-based Entronix opened a cell phone and wireless remanufacturing and repair facility at Airborne Commerce Park, adjacent to Airborne’s hub airport in Wilmington, DE, earlier this month. The facility repairs and returns a consumer’s original phone or sends a new or remanufactured unit in the same model–-even transferring the downloads and personal information from the original phone, if requested. Having the facility at the shipper’s hub cuts out several stops in the route the returned units otherwise must travel for repairs, reducing turnaround time from one to two weeks to at most a few days, says John Coffield, vice president of business development at Entronix.
Helping to speed up the turnaround time and to take some of the pressure off service carrier’s stores, where the consumers have been turning in phones for repair, is the increasing number of consumers who are going directly to the web to initiate the returns process. Entronix provides electronic warranty product support for several cell phones and wireless device manufacturers, and operates the service areas of some of those companies’ web sites, where consumers get instructions on returns. The volume of consumers who initiate the repair process on the web vs. the stores or toll free numbers that Entronix also operates for its manufacturer and service carrier clients is “about 20% and growing,” Coffield says.
Entronix joins consumer electronics company Micro Warehouse and others that operate similar facilities in Airborne`s 4-million-square-foot Airborne Commerce Park building. “Airborne owns the airport, so its planes don’t have to compete with commercial traffic,” says Coffield. “The flights come in starting at 12:30 a.m. The products are removed and sorted, and trucks are run over to the facility all night long so we can start repairs right away. Being at the airport is a tremendous opportunity for us, and better service for consumers.”
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