March 8th, 2021 marks the soft launch of Machine Compare’s BETA Marketplace, an e-commerce platform set to revolutionise spare parts purchasing for the better.
Two years ago, co-founders Ben and Eric Findlay discovered an industry-wide problem regarding the sheer volume of excess spare parts stock lying unused within factories worldwide. What the brothers had found was a serious issue that was already gaining traction in other sectors such as apparel and textiles. But discussions on this topic remained sparse in heavy industry.
The solution became clear: to launch a marketplace where sellers could list their unused, obsolete and surplus stock, and buyers could enjoy endless benefits such as reduced lead times, costs, and more transparent and effective supply chains, helping enhance planned maintenance strategies.
Switching from “buying new” to “buying better”
To date, Machine Compare has identified over £5B worth of spare parts sitting unused across multi-national manufacturing plantations within sectors such as food and drink, packaging, paper, pharmaceutical and more. A price tag that had started to weigh heavily on manufacturers and the planet, with stock generating huge storage and energy costs and, in many cases, resulting in spare parts being prematurely sent to landfill.
Machine Compare has taken action to reverse and mitigate the impacts of this critical flaw in the supply chain, putting these spare parts back into the market where they belong.
But the challenge ahead remains two-fold. In addition to re-routing these spare parts away from landfills, attitudes towards buying unused or dead stock must change. Steered by cultures and sentiments that buying new is considered buying better, Machine Compare critically highlights how “better” already exists, you just need to find it. And Marketplace is that place.
Same products. Different destination.
By allowing manufacturers to turn unused surplus stock into profit, the Marketplace helps flip the £5B problem into opportunity.
What became glaringly apparent during the development of this Marketplace was the sheer volume of spare parts wrongfully ending up in landfills. This was attributed to two major reasons. Either the spare parts had reached end-of-life, or, for the most part, manufacturers required more factory floor space.
Now, instead of these spare parts ending up in landfill, these parts can fulfil their intended life cycles with access to a live market of interested buyers.
In the future, Machine Compare will have established recycling partners worldwide to repurpose the spare parts that have reached end-of-life, creating a truly circular ecosystem.
Additionally, Machine Compare is committed to mitigating and displacing carbon emissions, including the carbon that is unavoidably emitted – for example, during the transportation of goods. This helps support the conservation, reforestation and carbon powerhouses that need it most, especially those impacted by industry.
Highly committed to the circular economy, Machine Compare aims to become a truly sustainable business, reaching net zero carbon by June 2023.
Hands on industry experience meet the latest in tech
Marketplace has been carefully crafted based on the real-life experiences and challenges of manufacturers worldwide. Nowhere is this clearer than in the e-commerce platform’s intelligent, proactive design.
Having spoken to manufacturers worldwide, Machine Compare realised that inventory management was a huge obstacle, with organisations struggling to gain a clear and comprehensive picture of what stock is available and where. Due to this, Machine Compare’s product and development team set about building a huge and growing database that can intelligently extract things like brand name, MPN number and category description from basic data to give buyers a far clearer picture of what you might be selling.
By searching over 50 million existing spare parts, the Marketplace system can further populate a seller’s inventory with an image, data sheets and specifications through the MPN number and manufacturer.
Trust is also a concern for both buyers and sellers. Without effective visibility into manufacturing supply chains, businesses and, in particular, executives are faced with significant blind spots in their enterprise risk management structure, from which substantial legal, financial, and reputational exposure could emerge. It is for this reason that Machine Compare is rolling out a comprehensive risk and governance plan, starting with their partnership with detected, compliance software that provides the right information in the right place and at the right time.
Every listing on Machine Compare’s new marketplace will soon contain the detected icon. Clicking on this internationally recognised mark of trust immediately brings up a seller’s real-time business credentials; live information that detected gathers automatically, standardised and presented in an easy-to-understand, interactive format.
Ben Findlay, Machine Compare’s CEO and co-founder 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 marketplace designed around the real-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.
Andrea Morselli, DS Smith’s Category Divisional Manager said:
“By listing our surplus spare parts stock on the Marketplace, we have released capital and improved operational efficiencies on a major level, proving this concept to be both sustainable and profitable. We would recommend Marketplace to any company that wants to increase sales and regenerate the products and materials that may otherwise be destined for landfill.
Discover the Beta Marketplace
The Beta Marketplace is an ongoing test, meaning we’ll continue to expand and add new products, features and functionalities to the platform over time.
Early adopters include global names such as UCIC, Nestle, DS Smith, Stora Enso and Ülker.
As a seller, you can now join this spare parts movement and stay one step ahead of the competition. As a buyer, you can access spare parts faster, and browse a wider range from world-renowned brands and manufacturers with peace of mind, knowing that more and more spare parts will be added to Marketplace every day.
We highly appreciate and welcome your feedback as a user, as it will allow us to improve what we do prior to our global rollout in June 2021.
Become part of this growing global community and join the movement in changing how industry trades.
