Merger of European T&M providers powers Electro Rent’s global ambition

Just a couple of years ago, you may have heard, NPO 2’s Top 2000 radio show received a typical call from a group of excited listeners. As it turned out, this call was anything but ordinary, it was a group of laboratory engineers from NXP calling in to say they were tuning in on the most expensive radio in the country. The callers explained they were using a large network analyzer and amplifier to demodulate the radio signal and amplify it across speakers in the lab – estimating that, in total, their radio was using around half a million euros worth of surplus equipment. Apparently, the test project they were conducting had ended, but the no-longer-used equipment was just in storage.

“It was told as a funny story, but this shows exactly what type of issues with inventory management many companies are facing,” describes Reinier Treur, Electro Rent’s VP of EMEA Product Management & Sourcing. “Companies are purchasing high-end pieces of equipment for projects lasting only half a year. But as the technology develops, it moves on or gets outsourced and the expensive equipment ends up just sitting in a warehouse.”