How to Manage Returned Goods

By Deborah Collins

In supply chain management process, returns management is the part which deals with the material returned from retail stores. The activities that are covered as part of returns management are reverse logistics, gate-keeping, and avoidance. Although organizations have ERP or SAP software to manage forward logistics supply chain program, sometimes they fail to include the returns management process into the program.

Sometimes companies give least priority to returned material. But, returned goods should be accounted for correctly to enable organizations to do some re-work and covert them into ROI again. The returned materials are usually divided into four categories: items for re-packing, items for repair, items for re-work and items for scrap.

Items for re-packing are those that require immediate attention because the defect lies only in the primary or secondary packaging and not with the product. Once done, the items are again sent back to line or sometime, even to the same retailer. This activity is usually completed in 24 hours time to avoid any other kind of delay.

Those that come under repair may need to undergo minimum amount of re-work. The manufacturer allocates jobs or tasks to other divisions or departments to take up the jobs as part of their regular work schedule. These items are given priority compared to regular jobs.

Those that come under rework may require large amount of rework activity. The product may have some parts damaged and may require the material to be sent back from the start of the supply chain process. Usually it takes a long time to get back to sales line, so rework is undertaken only if considered completely necessary by the manufacturer.

Those that do not come under any category will be scrapped immediately (discretion lies with the manufacturer). Since manufacturer also earns from scrap yard sales, it is important to make the 'scrap' decision early.

By getting the best solution implemented for reverse product flow, the organization will be able to recycle or rework on the goods and send them back to sales line as soon as possible. Supply chain solutions from leading market players are capable of seamlessly integrating with existing supply chain management solutions and bring economic benefits to the enterprise. - 30243

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