Image: courtesy of Product Remanufacturing Centers (PRC) at https://www.prcind.com/
Ariana Maniatis wrote an article on https://www.mitchellnews.com/ about the rising of the US-based company Product Remanufacturing Centers (PRC). Read below how an Amazon deal pushed the more than two decade old company to new heights.
Nestled in the large industrial site off Henredon Road in Spruce Pine is one of the area’s largest employers. Product Remanufacturing Centers (PRC) was founded more than two decades ago, but a contract with Amazon has pushed the company to new heights. PRC, which remanufactures defective products, already has several hundred employees and CEO Matias Perel expects that number to continue to grow.
PRC’s recent handling of Amazon returns has pushed PRC to its recent success and has increased the need for labor. Perel’s father-in-law founded PRC and over the years the company established its identity by working with major household appliance brands like Galanz, Tineco and Duraflame. When companies sent their “doomed” products to PRC, they emerged shortly with a new lease on life.
That basic blueprint would prove to be vital for the company’s eventual pact with Amazon in which the script is familiar— Amazon sends PRC products that have an issue. PRC fixes the products and sends them back to Amazon so they can be sold once again.
“We are like a mix of Home Depot, Dicks Sporting Goods and Target, all in one place,” Perel said. “But, of course, we restore and process.”
PRC’s huge campus has two main buildings— Spruce One and Spruce Two. Spruce One is the processing area for returns, clients and Amazon remanufacturing. Spruce Two is mainly used for storage, Perel said, and contains many of Amazon’s large items.
A stroll around any part of PRC shows the company’s flexibility. Its buildings house a staggering array of items that are being worked on ranging from refrigerators and vacuums to ping pong tables and hoverboards. PRC’s excellent track record of successful remanufacturing is spearheaded by its team of engineers and technicians who work in the engineering lab to diagnose product flaws and defects.
Sometimes, clients send details on how to fix a returned product but often, it’s up to the PRC team to figure it out themselves. Through total disassembly and critical thinking, the employees reach their goals. Throughout the remanufacture process, PRC goes through plenty of cardboard. Between receiving and sending off products, there’s a potential for massive amounts of waste.
Naturally, PRC started making its own recycled boxes. “We generate 250 tons of cardboard per week,” Perel said. “We send it to the paper mills to generate the paper we need to make boxes. We make our own and have a box factory. We reuse the cardboard instead of wasting it. Our philosophy is to eliminate waste.”
As PRC continues to grow and thrive, Perel keeps looking for motivated people to help the company’s mission— remanufacture the right way and with a smile.
“We try to make the world a better place,” he said. “One remanufactured product at a time.”
