The Lights Are Going Down on a Throwaway Equipment Culture

Simply throwing out electrical equipment and updating to ‘this year’s model’ is wasteful, expensive and causes problems of pollution and toxins, especially in emerging economies. It does not have to be this way.  

 

“We have noticed that the vast majority of issues that organizations tend to blame on software are actually about hardware components and can be repaired,” says Willian Santos of ABI Electronics. PCB components can be recovered, repaired and replaced as good as new. 

Even better than that: the components can be fine-tuned to become more appropriate to the needs of the user or to perform at a higher standard, like after-sales tuning of automobiles. 

On top of that, the cost of recover, repair and reuse can be very cost-effective. It can be less than 10% of the cost of new equipment. 

ABI Electronics first appeared on the radar with news of several contract wins across the world, with air forces, other military forces, and rapid transit systems. Metro Sao Paulo in Brazil, one of the largest cities in the world, has been practicing scheduled maintenance, servicing and repair of electronic components in its trains and traffic control systems for decades, as has the UK’s Royal Air Force, which means that the principle and technology is established.  

60 million tonnes of electronic waste is thrown away across the world, every year. Pressure on the environment and from consumers and environmental lobbies mean that this level of disposal is unacceptable.  

While a lot of OEMs are wedded to the model of selling new capital equipment as often and as much as possible, the world is changing. Equipment life will be extended, one way or another, either by the customer using equipment and training modules from ABI Electronics or similar companies, or the OEMs can do it themselves. They can offer a 360-degree package, that will include maintenance, service and repair, along the servitization model. 

As it is routine for repaired equipment to operate to at least the same standard as new units, there is little excuse for the traditional model to persist. The lights are going down on the throwaway society. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has further emphasised the value of repair over replacement. New equipment takes time to arrive and may require training of operatives and users. Equipment that is already on site and is monitored by the maintenance department and can be quickly fixed on site, offers more uptime and availability. 

This may require a rethink in colleges and universities, who are turning out people who know only how to create apps. The need for skills in repair and maintenance is growing and is likely to accelerate, as more businesses adopt the circular economy approach, to put servitization to work for them and to extend useful equipment life.  

Check Out Previous Episodes of All Systems Go Here!

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @MarketScale
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

Chase Harris
Faith, Fatherhood, and Fortitude: Inside Chase Harris’ Mission to Make Accessibility Possible for Every Child
October 15, 2025

Chase Harris is a father, husband, entrepreneur, and all-around force of light. Alongside his wife, Carly, and their son, Cash, he has inspired millions online through messages of resilience, faith, and family. Their story is one of turning adversity into action — and hardship into hope. “We knew early on that Cash had this special…

Read More
accounting career
How Shanice Scott Reinvented Her Accounting Career — And Found Her ‘Why’
October 15, 2025

The accounting pipeline is in flux. After years of decline in new graduates, the AICPA reported that bachelor’s completions fell 7.8% in 2021–22 and master’s fell 6.4%. In Fall 2024, undergraduate accounting enrollment rebounded by about 12%, while graduate enrollment continued to dip, underscoring a profession still recalibrating its talent model. For those building or…

Read More
Faherty
From Heritage to Hospitality: The Faherty Blueprint for Authentic, Community-Centered Branding
October 15, 2025

Great clothes may be where it starts, but today’s shoppers are looking for something more — a sense of connection, belonging, and shared purpose. Research shows that 90% of consumers value authenticity when deciding which brands to support: a clear reminder that while quality and design remain vital, meaning has become the new measure of loyalty….

Read More
Food-as-Medicine
The Gut Reset Revolution: How Food-as-Medicine Became the New Foundation for Wellness
October 15, 2025

Gut health has moved from fringe to front page, with consumers overwhelmed by protocols, powders, and “miracle” cleanses. As interest surges, so do questions about what actually works day to day—and why it matters now. One reason: an estimated 65% of the population is dairy intolerant, complicating popular bovine colostrum trends cited for immunity…

Read More