Client B – De-Manufacturing and Recycling of Equipment for Revenue and Environmental Responsibility

Situation

ATNI performs de-manufacturing services on end-of-life electronic assets in which the items are broken down to base commodity metals (copper, steel, aluminum, etc.).  This is an environmentally-friendly alternative if the gear cannot be sold for re-use.  When possible, product schematics are obtained and/or time-motion studies conducted to create Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that reduce the amount of labor used in the process.   

In August of 2008, ATNI received 400 new-in-the-box power distribution units from a client that no longer needed them.  There were several different models for which a re-use market was non-existent.  The copper bus-bar content in each weighed between 125 lbs. and 800 lbs.  Recognizing the opportunity, ATNI researched the commodity market and obtained a market high rate of $3.41/pound for copper. 

Results

ATNI found schematics for the units and de-manufactured each into their copper, steel, electronics, and cable components at a rate of less than 22 minutes ($5.13 in labor costs) per item.  In the end, we were able to obtain $685,000.00 for our client, and keep 400,000 pounds of materials out of the landfill.