New spare parts platform ‘set to revolutionise industrial purchasing’
Machine Compare, the Manchester-based B2B marketplace for industrial equipment, has added e-commerce to its mix following the soft launch of its spare parts platform, Marketplace.
DS Smith, Stora Enso, Nestle, JBS, Ülker and UCIC are among the growing list of industrial manufactures showcasing unused, obsolete and surplus stock via the e-commerce platform. This model is said to be a unique proposition for the manufacturing industry, set to disrupt the spare parts space for good.
To date, Machine Compare has identified £5bn-worth of unused, surplus and obsolete spare parts across manufacturing plantations worldwide.
More than 15 multinational manufacturers have partnered with Marketplace to sell surplus inventory, taking the number of individual brands, including spare manufacturers and sector specific original equipment manufacturers shoppable on the website, to in excess of 260.
Offering more than £7m-worth of product lines across electrical and mechanical spare part categories like semiconductors, capacitors, circuit protection, bearings, bolts and gears, Marketplace provides a dedicated channel that enables brand equity to be maintained when clearing stock, while also identifying new revenue streams by turning surplus spare parts into capital.
Finding such a staggering volume of surplus spare parts inventory came with further revelations regarding waste and disposal.
Machine Compare’s chief marketing officer, Emily Dunlop, said: “During the development of this Marketplace, something that became glaringly apparent was the sheer volume of spare parts being sent to scrap, with no transparency or audit trail of where these parts were ending up.
“Most importantly, of what was ending up in landfills.”
She added: “There is a real culture and mindset in the industrial sector that to buy new is to buy better. This isn’t always true. Marketplace proves that better exists. You just need to know about it.”
One organisation reshaping sustainable manufacturing and circular innovation is DS Smith. Its group chief procuremet officer, Alex Jennings, said: “The circular economy is an intrinsic part of our business model and as a result the refurbishment of equipment and reuse of materials is a critical consideration for our global operations.
“We want to see products and materials kept in use for as long as possible and support the wider manufacturing industry to reduce its need for landfill.”
Alex added: “By partnering with new, circular platforms like the Machine Compare Marketplace to support this process, we have been able to release capital and create significant improvements in operational efficiencies, proving this concept to be both sustainable and profitable.”
Machine Compare chief executive, Ben Findlay, said: “Our relentless pursuit to change how industry trades may only be in its infancy, but we have already seen a huge, positive response from multinational players the world over.
“Like us, they believe in a future where green technologies can thrive, and ethical profits can be made. And with the e-commerce platform designed around the rea life challenges and needs of industrial sellers and buyers, these users are bound to have an enjoyable and seamless experience while putting valuable resources back into circularity.
“Marketplace helps businesses close the circle by extending the lifecycles of spare parts, stopping them from prematurely being considered end-of-life.”
Machine Compare, based in The Express Building in Ancoats Street, was founded in 2014 by brothers Eric and Ben Findlay with the vision of changing how the world trades industrial machinery and spare parts.
