As they look to attract more multinational clients, processors have realized they need to expand their footprints. A U.S. company’s recent move shows how strategic partnerships can fit into that international equation.
Fresno, Calif.-based ERI, which operates seven processing facilities in the U.S., this fall announced an agreement with Enviroserve, an e-scrap company with a presence across Africa and the Middle East.
Executives from the two companies would not disclose financials related to the partnership, but they did say ERI personnel would be sited at a large Dubai facility Enviroserve is set to open next year. At the same time, representatives from Enviroserve are coming to ERI locations in the U.S.
Kevin Dillon, ERI chief marketing officer and chief sales officer, said in an interview that more such partnerships will likely be forthcoming.
“We’re proactively building an international network,” Dillon indicated. “It will be either ERI-owned facilities or strategic partnerships with other firms. We are looking for the best of the best, the platinum e-scrap and ITAD firms to bring into that global network.”
The timing of the ERI-Enviroserve agreement coincides with the opening of Dubai-based Enviroserve’s 228,000-square-foot processing site in the United Arab Emirates metropolis.
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According to Stuart Fleming, Enviroserve co-founder and CEO, the company invested just over $30 million in the facility. Slated to open next month, the plant has a capacity of 39,000 metric tons and will process a wide range of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE).
Fleming said Enviroserve already runs smaller operations in countries such as Angola, Georgia, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and South Africa. “They offer logistics support and dismantling,” Fleming stated in an email to E-Scrap News. “[This includes] sorting, disassembly, packing and shipping to the recycling hub in Dubai for final processing of WEEE.”
That’s the kind of international presence ERI and others are looking to tap as they sign deals with large corporate material generators and OEMs that want reliable electronics management services everywhere.
“We have customers begging us for solutions in almost every country,” Dillon said.
Fleming said that when providing service to international enterprises, it often makes the most sense to work with a partner that already knows the area needing coverage.
“The major benefits here are to share in each other’s regional expertise and reduce logistics costs, thereby providing a better service to our international clients,” Fleming said. “Logistics become more challenging the further away you are from your central plant.”
For Enviroserve, the ERI partnership follows a similar collaboration with Irish company Wisetek, which has been assisting Enviroserve on ITAD in the Middle East and Africa. “With them, we are able to offer managed take-back programs, logistical oversight, and industry-leading standards for asset handling and data destruction,” Fleming noted.
ERI’s Dillon said the push to meet the international needs of clients is becoming increasingly sophisticated, with customers putting a premium on services such as consolidated record-keeping and invoicing in addition to secure and reliable processing.
“Having global services, especially in regions that haven’t had traditional e-waste recycling services – that’s the focus of ERI right now,” he said.
Image courtesy of ERI.
