Refurbished equipment helps meet sustainability goals

For many industrial companies, sustainability targets are becoming a central part of long term strategy. At global glass manufacturer NSG Group, refurbishment of industrial electronics is now seen as one of the practical tools that can support these ambitions. According to Dariusz Bejton, Global Category Manager at NSG Group, refurbishment can help companies combine operational reliability with environmental responsibility. Together with Andrea Monfrino, Supplier Sustainability and Capability Manager at NSG Group, Bejton explains how refurbished equipment is gradually becoming part of the company’s procurement strategy.

NSG Group has set ambitious climate targets. The company aims to reduce its absolute carbon emissions by thirty percent by 2030 compared with 2018 levels, and to reach net zero emissions by 2050. Because glass production is highly energy intensive, achieving these goals requires improvements across many areas of the organisation. Andrea Monfrino explains that sustainability cannot be addressed only within production processes.

“As glass manufacturing is energy intensive, the challenge is significant,” Monfrino says. “We work on several scopes at once by changing furnace technology, using more cullet and switching to renewable energy. But what we buy from suppliers is just as important. That’s where refurbishment plays a role.” By extending the lifespan of industrial electronics, refurbishment helps reduce the demand for newly manufactured components and lowers the environmental footprint of operations.

NSG Group’s introduction to refurbished components began with a practical situation. The company urgently needed a spare part, but delivery of a new component would have taken several months. Dariusz Bejton recalls how refurbishment offered a faster alternative. “A few years ago we needed a spare part urgently,” he explains. “Delivery of a new component would take months. JC Electronics was able to offer a refurbished version of the required part within a few days.” This experience encouraged the company to explore refurbishment more broadly. Since JC Electronics specialises in the same automation brands already used within NSG Group, including ABB, Siemens and Rockwell Automation, integration into existing systems was straightforward. The availability of a two year warranty on refurbished components also helped increase internal confidence. “That warranty signals confidence,” Bejton explains. “It tells our stakeholders that refurbished parts meet the same reliability standards as new ones.”

Introducing refurbished equipment within a large industrial organisation requires patience. Many employees initially question whether refurbished components can truly match the performance and reliability of new ones. For this reason, NSG Group currently presents refurbishment as an option rather than enforcing it as a standard requirement. “People wonder if refurbished components will really work the same as new parts,” Bejton says. “That’s why we make it a choice rather than a mandatory implementation. By highlighting the benefits but not enforcing it, we hope scepticism fades.” Visiting the refurbishment facility of JC Electronics in the Netherlands also helped strengthen confidence in the process. According to Bejton, seeing the work of the technicians first hand made a clear difference. The refurbished components looked and functioned like new and the technical expertise behind the process was evident.

Beyond sustainability benefits, refurbishment also provides operational advantages. With JC Electronics’ central warehouse and repair facility located in the Netherlands, replacement parts can be delivered to NSG Group sites across Europe within twenty four to forty eight hours if required. This rapid availability reduces downtime risks while also supporting the company’s sustainability reporting obligations under European regulations such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive. Refurbished components therefore offer a combination of cost savings, faster delivery times and measurable environmental benefits.

For NSG Group, refurbishment represents one element within a broader transformation toward more circular industrial operations. Andrea Monfrino emphasises that sustainability is not limited to production processes alone. Procurement decisions also play an important role in reducing environmental impact. “Circularity is practical,” Monfrino says. “It shows that sustainability is not only about what happens inside our furnaces, but also about procurement choices we make that improve our world.” Bejton agrees that each step contributes to a larger goal. “It may be one step among many,” he says, “but each step builds towards the bigger goal. Refurbishment saves resources today while supporting long term transformation.”