Fortunately there are suppliers that have skills for hire for those companies needing to engage them. In February of 2004, RLTS hosted the first ever trade conference in Las Vegas focused just on Reverse Logistics. There was a smorgasbord of anxious suppliers wanting to help the attending manufacturers and retailers searching for solutions. Consultants, 3PLs, TPMs, Liquidators and Software Solution companies all displayed their offerings. I applaud the efforts of RLTS for pulling this conference together. This helps to highlight this critical piece of supply chain management so often underwhelmed in ERP and CRM solutions being offered today in the marketplace.

The following collection of things to consider in dealing with product returns is from many different points of view, and is offered to stimulate thinking outside the box. Implementation of some or all these ideas, without careful consideration of potential impact on individual businesses, is not recommended by the author.

Considerations for controlling product return cost for the manufacturer:

• Consider less liberal return policies. If you are a market leader perhaps you should consider driving the trend the other way. This is always a very emotional issue with sales and marketing. The odds are in your favor that no significant business will be lost.

• Limit or eliminate stock rotations for the channels.

• Consider severely limiting swap-out products, except as a last resort. Have very limited numbers of personnel that can authorize product swaps and hold them accountable.

• Try not returning products of low value, unless there are environmental or economic risks associated with in-field disposal. The Green Laws may soon become a challenge in this area.

• Negotiate with the channel to own the returns in consideration for better pricing. It does not solve the returns problem but does move it closer to the point of sale and avoids the age old argument from the OEM sales executive that, "Selling used reduces new product sales."

• Improved product instructions, packaging and design. All these can have huge influences on return volume. Go as far upstream as possible. Product design usually has the most impact.

• Outsource to a competent third party when it is economically justified or diverting valuable resources from the core business objectives. (Be careful here, since it is possible to substantially increase operating cost if the wrong choices are made).

• Research the reasons products are being returned and take corrective action. Sounds so obvious, but may be quite complex to capture reliable information through the reverse logistics chain.

• Speed up the entire reverse logistics process. Add a supercharger in the form of new process and systems designed to control, measure and provide full visibility to the reverse supply chain. Time is money has renewed meaning when it comes to asset recovery.

• Invest in the proper skills and supporting systems where necessary. Again this sounds obvious, but we have found this to be a common problem in companies experiencing return problems.

• Develop visible financial impact measurements and reporting for the executive staff and review it with them on a regular basis with continuous improvement goals highlighted.

• If you don't know what to do, seek experienced professional help, either through permanent additions of industry professionals to the company or consulting companies with expertise in Reverse Logistics. This is not work that should given to a general practitioner.