Jabil buys Scottish firm to boost ability to refurbish electronic components

The manufacturing and supply chain solutions company Jabil Inc. has acquired Retronix Ltd., a Scottish refurbisher of electronic components, saying the move will advance its initiatives in strengthening the circular economy.

St. Petersburg, Florida-based Jabil said Retronix’ services enable the safe extraction of embedded valuable components from printed circuit boards (PCBs) and other electronics to minimize waste, create new value channels, and mitigate future component obsolescence.

The deal adds to Jabil’s current circular economy services including reverse supply chain management, medical device reprocessing, recycled packaging, and emission reductions. It also strengthens the company’s mission to offer sustainable options to its customers who are increasing the use of electronics in “smart” products like electronic vehicles, home appliances, medical devices, and even packaged goods.

"This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to our customers' and our own environmental initiatives. As a trusted partner to many global brands, Jabil feels a strong sense of responsibility to not just support sustainability for ourselves, but to shepherd our customers towards decarbonization solutions like this — the reuse and recycling of electronic components,” Frank McKay, chief procurement and supply chain officer at Jabil, said in a release.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.