AP TAYLOR: ROSS TAYLOR ERT INTERVIEW


‘Refurb is no longer a dirty word – people are happy to purchase a repaired or refurbished product’


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AP Taylor is a ‘no landfill’ product repair and refurbishment provider that aims to prevent as much waste as possible by extending the life of electrical goods. And as CEO Ross Taylor explains to ERT, consumers’ perceptions of purchasing pre-used products are changing and helping the electrical retail industry become more sustainable than ever.


ometimes electrical items can go wrong and the end consumer often wants a quick and easy solution; they might return to where they purchased the product or go straight to the manufacturer. But what happens once the item is returned? Years ago, it would more than likely be tossed into landfill as the industry did not have enough resources and data to develop a repair network. Now, however, one particular company is on a mission to prevent waste and to help reduce overall returns rates, and ultimately extend the life of everyday electricals. AP Taylor offers a full, totally bespoke returns solution to manufacturers and retailers of electrical goods with its unique in-house processing and fault analysis centre. What was only meant to be a short-term venture, the business was born in 2000 when Alan Philip Taylor was made redundant from Electrolux and asked to inherit its vacuum cleaner repair contracts. Alan retired early into the growth of AP Taylor, but over the years with his son Ross at the helm the company started handling small domestic appliances and quickly built up a trusted reputation as a service provider for a number of huge brands, including Electrolux, Hoover, Russell Hobbs and Vax, as well as retail chains such as Currys, Argos and Asda. Today, AP Taylor processes over 700,000 returns each year with its dedicated, experienced technicians helping it to achieve one of the highest product re-use rates in the UK. This in turn contributes massively to the recycling objectives of the whole electrical retail sector.


The Luton-based repair company is fully regulated by the Environment Agency and the Government – which has committed to stopping 100 per cent of waste going into landfill, and AP Taylor already contributes four per cent towards that reuse target for the whole of the UK! The company has become a crucial part of the supply chain. There are two main arms of the business – now run by Alan’s son Ross, alongside Directors Ian Evans and Leon Monger. Firstly, if a product is returned under warranty via a retailer or direct with the manufacturer, AP Taylor will collect it and begin the fault-finding and repair process at its 46,000sq ft repair centre near Dunstable. (It also has two satellite fulfilment centres in Stevenage and in Crewe.) Then it will return the item to the manufacturer, retailer or direct to the consumer within on average 72 hours. During the process it will report back to the manufacturer the cause of the issue and it keeps a database of information which clients can access for


future reference. This data allows the manufacturer to adapt their production where necessary to prevent any similar faults on future lines. Secondly, AP Taylor is a ‘no landfill’ company; not one of the electrical items that goes through its factory will end up in the bin. Its expert refurbishment team will repair the product back to quality working performance, recycle the scrap or harvest parts to be used elsewhere in similar appliances. Refurbished products that are not being returned to customers will then be re-sold via AP Taylor’s own trade platforms in the UK and abroad. “It’s a model that works well for us, and the change in people’s perception means that ‘refurb’ is no longer a dirty word – they are quite happy to purchase a repaired or refurbished product,” Ross Taylor tells ERT in this exclusive interview. He adds that positive changes across the industry


are reflecting this; manufacturers now have to keep spare parts in stock for 10 years and this automatically helps to encourage product repairs, he says. “Ultimately we are more than a recycling centre – we are a re-life centre,” he goes on. “The majority of product that is returned here is due for scrapping but we help put those items back into the economy with an extended life.” When ERT’s Jack Cheeseman went to visit the Dunstable factory, Mr Taylor told us all about the core bread and butter of the AP Taylor business, but how he is also trying to develop these operations to be greener and even more forward-thinking…


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