PODCAST  TRANSCRIPT:

You’re reading through the R2v3 standard and when you get to Appendix C there are a bunch of requirements about an R2 Reuse Plan. So what is this Plan and how can you write one? That’s the topic of this episode of Ask The R2 Guru. I’m Roger Greive, from SERI – Champions of Electronics Sustainability.

The R2 Reuse Plan is new to R2v3, and it’s only for those companies that are being certified to Appendix C – Testing and Repair.

As we did with the Data Sanitization Plan, SERI has developed a guidance document that takes you through the steps needed to create your Plan.

You’ll be using a Guidance tool found on the SERI website with questions and some examples of how to format your answers. The goal of having this plan is to make your testing and repair process clear and understandable to your R2 auditor.

And this is not essential, but if you get the chance, download this guidance document before you listen to the rest of this podcast. You m  ight find it helpful if you follow along as we go through this document. You’ll find it on the SERI website under the R2 menu. Go to the R2 Knowledge Base then look for the box in the second row called Training for Process Requirements. Scroll down to Appendix C Testing & Repair. The guidance tool is the third item down, after the two videos. The title is Guide to Developing an R2 Reuse Plan.

If you’re listening in your car, please download the document later, for obvious reasons…

This Guidance tool is set of comments and clarifications to the requirements, with questions that prompt your written responses. The answers to the questions in this tool will form the core of your R2 Reuse Plan.

Your Plan will be made up of four main sections –, Test Plans, Quality Assurance Plans, Product Safety Plans and your Product Return Policy and Plan. There are also some requirements for written instructions and competency. Our guidance tool has six sections, and the first is developing test plans, so let’s dive in…

As you develop your test plans, you’ll begin by listing the equipment and components tested at your facility., Then, you’ll list the functions for each item and which of those are key functions. That’s followed by a list of tests for the various functions – how they’re completed and what equipment is used. Pass/fail criteria are listed next, and finally a description of how the test results are recorded and maintained.

Many R2 facilities use software to manage the testing of their equipment and to record the test results. That will make this first section a lot easier to complete.

And at the end of this section in the Guidance Tool, you’ll find a sample matrix showing how the questions in this section can be answered all in one place.

The next section of this Guidance tool is Defining Functionality Categories. The requirement in Appendix C asks your facility to verify that your test results align with the functioning product categories in the R2 Equipment Categorization document, or REC. You’ll need to answer which product categories from the REC are used by your facility, and you’ll describe how your test results are used to assign equipment to those categories.

The third section of this Guidance tool helps you develop Quality Assurance Plans. Every R2v3 certified facility that qualifies for Appendix C must be audited to a Quality Management System such as ISO9001 or RIOS. That quality certification will help you complete this part of the Reuse Plan.

By answering the questions for each part of your Quality Assurance Plan, you’ll describe the quality checks you perform on your test methods to ensure consistency in the results. Then, how you verify the accuracy of your test equipment including calibration, maintenance, and software updates. Next, your plan will have a section on how your facility monitors the quality of tested items and how you identify and manage items that fail testing. Finally, you’ll describe how your facility verifies the accuracy of assigning proper REC categories and verification that all tested items with data have been sanitized according to Appendix B – Data Sanitization.

The fourth section helps you write you Product Safety Plans. Product safety is a really important aspect of your facility’s test and repair operations, and this section prompts you to answer three crucial questions – what are the safety conditions that your facility checks tested items for, what processes are used to confirm that items are safe for reuse and finally, how does your facility manage product recalls.

The next section is similar to other requirements throughout the R2v3 Standard and that’s training and competency. When you answer the questions in this section, you’ll be able to identify what combination of experience and training will enable your technicians to fulfill their roles with professionalism and skill. There are samples included in this Guidance tool for monitoring training and competence for each position or activity in your test and repair area..

Once everything else is completed for your R2 Reuse Plan, the final section ensures that your facility has written instructions for each activity, and that your facility has a product return policy and plan in place. It’s not required, but for the written instructions, you might want to include a listing of all relevant work instructions or procedures that relate to your test and repair operations. Your product return policy outlines the conditions for a product return and communicates with your buyers, and the Product Return Plan is a written process for managing those returns.

And finally, once you have this plan written, take a look at it to see if there is anything in there that you could use as an informational or marketing piece or as a page on your company web site. Sometimes, the written descriptions of your process that you wrote for this plan is the best way to show your professionalism to a potential customer.

As always, I hope you’ve enjoyed this episode of Ask The R2 Guru and found it helpful. Thanks to Sean DeVries, Sarah Kim and Jeff Siebert for their assistance in producing this podcast series. If you have any questions or comments or want to suggest a topic for a future podcast please use the contact us form on the SERI website. You’ll find us at SustainableElectronics.org.