IQUTECH – Ireland's Largest Returns Management Company

The Company

IQUTECH is a carbon-negative company that has grown to become one of Europe's leading Returns Management Consultancies providing solutions to Tier 1 manufacturing companies in sectors such as telecoms, consumer electronics, automotive and power. IQUTECH enables companies like Dell, HP, Eir, Apple and EMC to generate revenue, as well as impactful environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategies to achieve their sustainable development goals within their manufacturing operations.

Introduction

In 2009, two companies came together, Partner in Excess (PIE) Screening and Screening and Testing Services (STS). These two companies later became IQUTECH. Mark O'Sullivan and three other shareholders owned STS, while Jack Kennedy and three other partners owned PIE. After Jack Kennedy passed away, a portion of the business, PIE Screening was sold and Jack's family retained ownership of 25% of PIE Screening. In 2011, Mark O'Sullivan and Jack Kennedy's son, John Kennedy, bought out all other shareholders, and they began trading as IQUTECH. In terms of the history of the companies, John's father started PIE screening around 2005, while Mark O'Sullivan started STS in 2003, both companies working in parallel and sometimes in competition. In 2012, all this changed when IQUTECH started trading.

IQUTECH's primary activities are in the repair and refurbishment of electronic products and are tightly related to effective waste management (which is aligned with SDG#11.6), which prevents those products from ending up in landfill (United Nations, 2023). Instead, IQUTECH aims to extend the life cycle of the returned products and bring them back to the market. This demonstrates IQUTECH's contribution towards SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (United Nations, 2023).

Vision and Mission

At IQUTECH, their vision is to create a new mindset for modern companies by helping them to reconsider the life cycle of their products. Through their innovative solutions, they give technology a second chance on life and help to create a waste-free world.

IQUTECH does not see a difference between our sustainability vision and our company vision (IQUTECH, 2023).

Products and Services Offered by IQUTECH

IQUTECH offers a wide range of products and services to their customers. Table 1 provides information on their products and services offered including the description on the functionality for each product/service.

Background of IQUTECH

IQUTECH is owned and managed by John Kennedy and Mark O'Sullivan. Mark and John are very involved in their respective communities and sponsor several local clubs/teams (see Fig. 1).

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Fig. 1.

Mark's and John's Involvement in the Community.

Jack Kennedy Snr was a co-founder of PIE and the father of John Kennedy. John's role in PIE Screening was in business development and operations. Jack, Mark and John worked together in PIE on several occasions. Soon after the passing of Jack, 75% of the business was sold, with John Kennedy taking ownership of 25% of the new entity PIE Screening. Mark was the founder of Complete Solutions (CMP). Mark and John had been working together since 2003 on and off but came together in 2009 to form IQUTECH, moving their respective customers from CMP and PIE to IQUTECH; this was in essence the merging of two separate family businesses into one dual-family business. John's current role in IQUTECH is in operations and finance, owning 50% of IQUTECH. Mark's role in IQUTECH is business development and account management, owning 50% of IQUTECH as well. Fig. 2 shows the front premises of IQUETECH in Limerick, Ireland.

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Fig. 2.

IQUTECH's Logo.

John Kennedy is married to Kay O'Connell and has five children, Jack Jnr, Conor, Aidan, Cian and Clara. Kay O'Connell started working at IQUTECH in 2020. Kay manages their account on a daily basis. Jack Kennedy Jnr is John's oldest child, who is currently working in IQUTECH while studying. Jack works in the production and logistics areas of IQUTECH. Conor Kennedy is John's second oldest and works in IQUTECH during school holidays. Conor works in the production area at IQUTECH. Aidan, Cian and Clara are John's youngest children, and while they have accompanied John or Kay to work on several occasions, they do not have an active role in the company. On the occasions they do visit, they can be found drawing on the various whiteboards in the IQUTECH meeting rooms (Fig. 3).

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Fig. 3.

John Kennedy With His Family.

Mark O'Sullivan is married to Teresa, and they have three children, Sorcha, Muireann and Aoife. Teresa Kelly was a director at CMP, and she resigned from this position when IQUTECH was formed. Sorcha O'Sullivan is Mark's oldest child and works in the production area and warehouse in IQUTECH. Sorcha is also studying at the moment and hopes to become a software engineer. Muireann O'Sullivan is Mark's second oldest child. Muireann has worked in IQUTECH during the school holidays. Aoife O'Sullivan is Mark's youngest daughter, and while she has accompanied Mark to work on several occasions, she has not worked in the company in any capacity except to raid the vending machine in the canteen (Fig. 4).

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Fig. 4.

Mark O'Sullivan With His Family.

Ownership

Mark O'Sullivan and John Kennedy are equal co-owners of IQUTECH, with facilities in Ireland, the Czech Republic and Poland. They have brought two partners in to manage the business operations in Poland (IQUTECH PL) and the Czech Republic (IQUTECH CZ).

Origins

In 2009, Dell closed its manufacturing operation in Ireland and opened operation manufacturing processes in Poland. STS followed Dell to Poland, where they were servicing tier-one vendors with Dell and tier-one suppliers. Soon after, STS followed those suppliers starting to service HP in the Czech Republic.

PIE Screening had an operation in the Netherlands, but in 2012, this operation closed when the service site for Dell was moved to Poland. PIE Screening moved its operations to Poland in response to this change.

IQUTECH continues to have a presence in the Netherlands, and they also have staff in Hungary.

Size

IQUTECH is considered a small company, with less than 50 employees. In Ireland, IQUTECH employs about 26 employees on a full-time basis with six part-time employees. In the Czech Republic, IQUTECH has full-time equivalent staff members of about 10 employees, and in Poland, it would be a similar number of 10 employees (see Fig. 5). In the Netherlands and Hungary, IQUTECH has one engineer at each location.

Structure

The company structure is relatively flat as is evident by Fig. 5.

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Fig. 5.

Organisational Structure of IQUTECH.

SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and IQUTECH

The orientation around the Sustainable Development Goal number 11 (SDG#11), sustainable cities and communities, for IQUTECH has happened more by accident, rather than by design. Mark O'Sullivan's background is in electronic repair, being an electronic engineer who worked in Dell Service. So since very early in his career, Mark's background has been in repair, in particular PC repair.

IQUTECH has been a circular economy enabler not by design but just as part of their business, as Mark O'Sullivan has stated: ‘This is how we have carved out a business and how we make money’.

Mark's development as an employee at Dell, then afterwards in STS taught him the skills and gave him the knowledge of how to manage returns. It has been also called by many different names such as Reverse Logistics, RMA Management, Returns Management, Take Back Schemes, After Sales Service and now Circular Economy Enabler. IQUTECH has been doing the same work for over 30 years.

In Poland and the Czech Republic, IQUTECH does the screening, local testing and in some cases repair of electrical products. They would separate good from bad and then try to get as much of the bad repaired into good again. They are refurbishing the repairing manufacturing quality issues. By repairing and converting the bad products into useable stock, IQUTECH demonstrates its contribution to waste management as part of Target 11.6 within SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (United Nations, 2023).

Some Quality issues would happen in tier 1 and 2 suppliers ¹ in Asia. Then the final assembly/manufacturer (Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, Microsoft, Apple, etc.) would have an issue with the supplied materials and then it would be IQUTECH's job to screen and distinguish the good from bad and make good units available for use by the manufacturer and then resolve the remaining bad stock. This in most cases has been a repair – Mechanical, Cosmetic or Software. IQUTECH would complete the repair and again, return the material into good stock. As Mark O'Sullivan says: ‘If we did not provide this service, in some cases, these units would be scrapped and could end up in landfill’.

Everything considered, it was the returns management that brought the origins of what IQUTECH is today – a Circular Economy Enabler – by repairing and refurbishing the returned electrical products and expanding their life cycle on the market. IQUTECH has never set out to become a Circular Economy Enabler, the company has been only aiming to get the most out of all the materials that they were receiving. Mark isn't too comfortable talking about the SDGs as he says: ‘This is why I don't really like talking about SDGs and stuff like that because they never affected us before, but now people are talking about it. We've been doing it for 30 odd years, and maybe a bit longer, and it doesn't feel like that it's anything new to us, it has been there all the time’.

IQUTECH has failed to communicate internally or externally the focus on Sustainability. The company managers have been occupied with managing customers and managing requirements and have not had enough time to communicate their internal and external goals. However, in the last six months, they have started to take steps to remedy this.

IQUTECH's new website has now gone live and is very focused on the language of SDG#11 Sustainable cities and communities, in particular waste management, and their sustainable journey is being well documented. A case study shown on their website ² demonstrates how the partnership between IQUTECH and Eir has resulted in less waste, where electronic products have been repaired instead of ending in landfill. Through this partnership, IQUTECH has managed to prevent approximately 240,000 electronic products from Eir from ending up in landfill or being left at customers' homes (IQUTECH, 2023). This is aligned with SDG#11.6.1 where IQUTECH contributes to reducing the amount of municipal solid waste collected through the repair of the products. The evidence shows that IQUTECH has repaired 90% of Eir's returned products, while in 50% of the cases, there has been no fault identified in the stock, therefore the products have been repackaged and sent to a new customer (IQUTECH, 2023). The achievement of SDG#11 is evidenced also in IQUTECH's mission statement which is given in Fig. 6.

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Fig. 6.

IQUTECH's Mission as Stated on Their Website.

IQUTECH has also looked at the ESGs as part of the review and they continue to develop their policies and plans for the next five years. The company is now talking a new language about something that they have been doing for 30 years. This has always been a challenge for IQUTECH; no matter how successful they have been, they have not talked openly about it.

IQUTECH has survived two recessions, a pandemic and now a war in Europe. IQUTECH is getting better at talking about themselves and their real impact towards the sustainable development goals. The website, the new SDG plans, IQUTECH's building's new interior design and their new logo (see Fig. 7) will reflect how they are sustainable for all to see, hear and hopefully experience the IQUTECH's contribution to waste management as part of Target 11.6 within the SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities (United Nations, 2023).

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Fig. 7.

IQUTECH's New Logo.

Business Model and SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

IQUTECH's unique value proposition is its customer service. Their customers have remained at the centre of their activities since the company began its operations. It has allowed IQUTECH to develop personal relationships with almost all their customers and fuelled its expansion into Europe. IQUTECH is receiving word-of-mouth referrals from department to department, from company to company and from country to country.

In addition to their customer service, IQUTECH has a huge amount of experience in returns management. Having a long history within the provision of returns management services, this shows the tight connection of IQUTECH's key activities with waste management as part of SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities.

Mark has learnt how to trade in Dell, being taught everything from Assembly to People & Resource Management, warehousing and logistics, manufacturing and return models. Dell has been a great place to work and upon leaving, a great business case to learn from and model other return operations on.

IQUTECH's next value proposition is process management. The business model of Dell is very strong. It is a repair model that is effective for Apple and for other companies. Models are based on strong processes and IQUTECH prides itself on process controls, steps, rules, checks, and validation.

IQUTECH has invested very heavily in having the tools to manage its processes. In the very early days, they used Access Databases when no one had been using them. These databases have been a step up from Excel but a giant leap from paper. Once they got this technological edge, they did not let it go, and even today, they recognise that technology and automation are key to their success.

Next and maybe the most important decision IQUTECH has ever made has been investing in software. IQUTECH has always had some software package being developed or in the pipeline. They have known very early on that they could set themselves apart by reporting and providing an accurate recall of information for customer. In 2017, IQUTECH was successful in winning a huge tender in Ireland. There was a huge reporting aspect to the project, and IQUTECH knew that their system would not be up for the job. They met with their new business partner Adrian DeCléir to discuss the project, and it was at that point, John, Adrian and Mark formed Devoltaire which would trade as Blocworx. Blocworx software helps IQUTECH to manage almost every part of their business, and their Digital Roadmap can be executed much easier than it would if they were depending on third-party providers. This customer-centric approach pushed IQUTECH to create Blocworx, and now they believe that Blocworx will open doors for them that allow the company to compete on a global scale. By creating the new software, IQUTECH is now more efficient in managing the reporting and recall of customer products, which in turn results in more electronic products being successfully repaired and brought back to the market.

Another key element of the business model for IQUTECH is revenue savings or revenue generating. In IQUTECH's case, sustainability and the circular economy drive their business. If companies did not want to be sustainable, then IQUTECH could be out of business. Nowadays, sustainability and the circular economy principles are not the driving forces for successful companies, but revenue savings or revenue-generating programs are. This is the reason why IQUTECH has existed for so long. As Mark O'Sullivan stated: ‘There is a logical saving to be made if you design your products so they can easily be repaired and at the end of their lifecycle, you can use the same material for the next generation of product’. There is a logic in finding more than one source of material, and that material availability can be forecast for the required amount of time. Urban mining is another aspect of IQUTECH's key activities. It refers to the recovery of the materials from products that have been returned from the customer or are at the end of their life cycle.

IQUTECH provides revenue savings when they successfully manage the return of a product for their customers. The product can be tested, inspected, repaired or refurbished and placed into stock. This process supplements their supply chain and saves money on service stock. Therefore, IQUTECH provides a revenue saving opportunity for itself, its customers and society by aligning its business model with SDG#11.

IQUTECH provides revenue generation when they successfully manage the return of a product for their customer. The product may fail for whatever reason, but if IQUTECH can recover the plastic, the PCB, the metal and the cables, they can then liquidate it into their supply chain or bring it into a third-party supply chain, thus generating a revenue stream. This also prevents electronic products from ending up in landfill, which minimises waste, thus contributing to SDG#11.

This can be done for all companies – IT equipment has a lifetime. IQUTECH can extend IT equipment's lifetime, or they can liquidate it at the end of its lifetime to generate revenue or save revenue.

SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities and IQUTECH

Traditionally, IQUTECH has always been customer-driven. In more recent times, the company has looked deeper into their stakeholders.

• Customers – IQUTECH is very customer-centric.

• Employees – IQUTECH sometimes makes their customers more important than their employees, but they are getting better at this.

• Networks – IQUTECH has always been part of one network or another. The passing of information and support from other companies is invaluable.

• Community – IQUTECH is involved in the community, but it is mostly an interest of John or Mark. John is very heavily involved in soccer, and Mark is very involved in Gaelic Football. Also, their kids and their interests influence what they get involved in.

Reporting and Measurement

IQUTECH is part of CirculÉire, the Irish circular economy platform. As part of its membership, IQUTECH completed a Baseline Assessment in 2019 and has been measuring its environmental impact since then. CirculÉire has provided them with metrics that can be used to calculate their performance.

IQUTECH plans on using these metrics to create a module in their software, Blocworx, to provide them with an automated/semi-automated method of constantly monitoring their performance. This allows IQUTECH to look at their requirements and inform its decisions that affect the company's carbon score.

Since IQUTECH has measured their activities, the results have shown that the company is carbon negative. Their repair and refurbishment activity has allowed IQUTECH to offset the carbon they generate. They have also installed solar panels in their building to reduce their electricity and heating consumption, further reducing their carbon output. As Mark O'Sullivan says, ‘So, we're happy to say that we are in a good trajectory. The more we repair, the more negative we are’.

Challenges of Working With SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

IQUTECH has been in a little bit of a predicament in Ireland, the market is relatively small and their biggest success has been in Ireland. They have had a lot of success in Poland with Dell and in the Czech Republic with HP. These achievements have not grown as they have in Ireland. So IQUTECH has a challenge from a business development point of view or a marketing point of view, to get their name known in the market in Poland and the Czech Republic and get more business in those countries.

Furthermore, in Ireland IQUTECH has a diversity problem. They need more diversity in their offering, and the other big challenge for them is people and space. It is very expensive and difficult to locate the right people and space. So, IQUTECH is looking outside of its current region trying to find more space. In addition to these challenges, i.e. finding people and space, they also need better access to finance.

Business and Greater Good

Possibly the biggest benefit that IQUTECH sees in the long-term future is in the mobility of electricity and the electrification of transport, which is very close to IQUTECH. Because it can be seen all around us, IQUTECH has been repairing all kinds of electronic and mechanical items throughout their business life. So, for over 20 years IQUTECH has been screening or reworking or repairing or refurbishing parts.

The huge influx of electric bikes, electric scooters and electric cars will transform the requirement for repair, more importantly, the need for local repair. As European Waste Laws around the movement of waste from one jurisdiction to another are becoming more and more regulated, this will provide opportunities for IQUTECH to help the communities around them and how they consume. This can lead to cities being more sustainable, which is the basis of SDG#11. If IQUTECH can provide a service that extends the life of its products, then the purchasing of refurbished products will become the norm. People by their nature would still want the latest fashionable items; however, IQUTECH at least can provide a sustainable channel for their old products, therefore influencing waste management and consumption. IQUTECH is very well placed to meet the demands for refurbished products.

New technology does not stop IQUTECH's ability to repair and refurbish products; it only changes the way they do it, instead of what they do as part of their key business activities. IQUTECH has the staff and the software needed, and they can develop the hardware required to test the new technology. The logistics of returns are the same for all products from food to fashion and everything in between. If the manufacturer provides instructions, the process will flow very easily provided that dismantling a moped or a bike, or a battery pack that belongs to a bike, is very similar to dismantling a PC, a modem or a set-top box. It is within IQUTECH's core competency. IQUTECH could create an ecosystem for use and reuse of electrical products and thus encourage sustainable consumption. Therefore, consumers, e-mobility and products in general that are currently in the market will have a longer life cycle. It is expected that in the future, people will be looking to get more out of their products, and refurbishment will be the first choice for most people.

What Next for IQUTECH and SDG#11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Consumption

IQUTECH's services will allow people to choose to keep their products and extend their life cycle for as long as possible or to sell, recycle or upcycle these products so they can be purchased by another person. IQUTECH will influence people's habits when it comes to waste management (SDG#11) and responsible consumption (SDG#12).

If IQUTECH can facilitate ‘Take Back Schemes’ and ‘Food Banks’ and give products a new/alternative end use, then the company can minimise waste. IQUTECH also feels that ‘urban mining’ ³ is going to be a large element of sustainability.