Circular economy: EcoSpare launches the first marketplace for upgrading industrial electrical spare parts

After 16 years of activity within the Schneider Electric group as sales director, Adil Mokhles has chosen to undertake an entrepreneurial activity to tackle the problem of industrial waste of spare electrical parts (control command and automatism). Faced with the obsolescence of electrical equipment which weighs down the budgets of manufacturers and generates massive production of waste, his company EcoSpare offers a more sustainable solution according to the principles of the circular economy. The goal? Extend the life of equipment and promote an eco-responsible approach by allowing manufacturers to upgrade their electronic components. 

The inevitable obsolescence of industrial equipment

While they make it possible to improve the performance of production lines, the race for innovation and the acceleration of the renewal of ranges on the part of electrical equipment manufacturers weigh on the sustainability of industrial production tools.

Certain essential parts, such as PLCs, see their production and marketing time reduced, in favor of new components with more advanced technologies.

“The obsolescence of electrical equipment is not necessarily programmed, it can be linked to technological, economic or strategic reasons … The manufacturers of electrical equipment decide to stop a reference in favor of a more recent one, it is not than the law of innovation. However, this obsolescence has serious consequences on the activity of manufacturers and on the environment”. Explains Adil Mokhles.

In the case of failure of a central component that has become obsolete (and therefore impossible to repair or replace via its manufacturer), manufacturers are indeed forced to replace all the equipment and get rid of the many additional components still working.

A burden that weighs on budgets and on the company’s CSR balance sheet: production line down for replacement, purchase of new equipment and outright waste of the old. As an indication, the hourly cost of a production stoppage in the automobile is estimated at € 1.5M, € 100M in petrochemicals or even € 17K in the food industry. While large companies can absorb the costs, this is rarely the case for SMEs and mid-size companies whose managers find themselves in a deadlock. 

A marketplace to upgrade obsolete industrial parts that are still in working condition

To respond to the problem, Adil Mokhles created the company EcoSpare in 2019. Its mission: to upgrade industrial parts in perfect working condition and until now intended for recycling.

The Spare-Place.com marketplace, the first of its kind, wants to offer manufacturers (large companies, SMIs and ETIs) and all existing resellers a privileged place for the exchange of spare parts for control and automation, refurbished. Companies that have replaced their equipment will be able to resell their working equipment there (rather than throwing it away) to other companies, seeking to extend the life of their production tools at a lower cost. An alternative solution that allows companies to better manage equipment obsolescence, but also the entire industrial sector to limit its carbon impact.

For its founder, EcoSpare’s vocation is to offer a tool that facilitates an eco-responsible approach, “To allow all industries to make a lasting commitment, simply. Valuing old electrical components for the benefit of industries affected by material obsolescence is more than a contribution to the circular economy of this world, it is a revolution of the whole chain with a winning ecological strategy for the all the actors. “

With a new home market estimated at € 200 million in France, EcoSpare wants to make it possible to reuse 2,500 tones of products within 3 years. The marketplace, scheduled for launch in June 2020, will begin its activity with a test with a handful of resellers in order to stabilize a reliable and functional platform and initiate first sales.