Michael Peralta
Yossy Montecinos
Osayre Gomez
Dhruv Patel
Neidelyn Pina
Rutgers Business School
Jeana Wirtenberg
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Metrofuser's innovation focuses on the preservation and the protection of the environment and ecosystem. To accomplish this goal, they have made all their operations eco-friendly. They remanufacture old machines and promote an environmentally aware lifestyle inside their own business and with their suppliers.
Metrofuser's core business involves the re-manufacturing of Office machines that are defective or at the end of their useful life, which are then collected and rebuilt. This innovation emphasizes their dedication to the environment through all the company's eco-friendly operations, including the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) certification in their procurement procedures. They also promote recycling internally and with their suppliers, and have waste management plans in place to reduce the landfill space they utilize.
Additionally, even the packaging for their products is made in a way that lasts five to ten times the average life cycle of typical packaging so that they can reuse it in the future. This initiative also helps reduce the company's mass footprint. Besides being eco-friendly, this innovation gives them a competitive advantage!
Will Demuth from Metrofuser said that his inspiration came from three primary factors: his love for industry and business, competition, and the environment. All closely linked together, it was his passion for the industry that inspired him to create Metrofuser, and this innovation, as he wanted his business to be different from his competitors. Demuth stated, “I once worked for a competitor and saw what they were doing, and I wanted to improve on it.” Seeing competition as a way to improve his business, he came up with the re-manufacturing method which allowed the company to become eco-friendly, thus differentiating Metrofuser from its competitors. Helping the environment is what Metrofuser wanted to do, which is why incorporating it into their business model in some way was important. Thus, the innovation was born, with its inspiration coming from the intersection of the environment, industry, and its competition. All those put together provided MetroFuser with an eco-friendly way of setting themselves apart from their competitors while at the same time staying true to their brand.
Metrofuser makes a substantial impact on society which is broken up into short-term and long-term effects. Their short-term effects are helping create jobs in areas such as Elizabeth, NJ, which are distressed areas that need economic growth. By establishing their company in these areas, they help bring business to the city, which helps develop the region financially and socially. The company brings in entry-level employees and then prepares them for future opportunities by improving their soft and technical skills.
Besides helping their employees, they try to educate the community on the positive effects of their current work. Since Metrofuser re-manufactures office equipment, such as printers, they are eco-friendly in that reusability is better for the environment than recycling. By remanufacturing and reselling these products, it is possible for these items to reenter the market up to about six times. This process leads to their long-term effect of reducing overall electronic waste in landfills.
Additionally, their more significant impact is that they improve the service industry by making printers more sustainable by increasing their service life up to 15-20 years. By revolutionizing the service industry, they aim to keep up with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) so that they can expand this impact beyond office equipment into sister products, such as ATMs.
Metrofuser has greatly benefited by making the remanufacturing of printers and other office equipment their core business. Instead of throwing these products away, they saw the value of remanufacturing, which is why they are so successful. Employees also enjoy the freedom of working on their own without being dependent on others, such as OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). Metrofuser also conducts their business efficiently, so they have more products ready to be sold in much less time, thus increasing their productivity.
Not only do they fix printers but they also work on toners, computer and phone parts and many other electronic devices. They try to fix every gadget they can before they throw them away. This process encourages workers to be more creative to be able to solve more problems. They are remanufacturing their products, which separates them from other companies in their industry, and that is why people will always remember this business. Having this reputation brings value to the business and creates future business opportunities.
Since the workers at Metrofuser try to fix and rebuild anything that is broken, it gives them a great benefit of offering a broad product range to their customers. By allowing employees to implement their own ideas into the business, they are more invested in the company, which is how the company has been able to grow from 4 employees to 65 employees!
Metrofuser, aside from being a for-profit business, also has positive societal and environmental benefits for the community and world at large. Regarding environment benefits, there are three main points that Metrofuser impacts: waste reduction, energy efficiency, and community.
To elaborate on the most prevalent first is waste reduction and waste recycling. In their New Jersey offices, Metrofuser has replaced hot and cold kitchen cups with reusable containers and has introduced a new packaging system for their products. In its Sustainable Packaging Program, Metrofuser utilizes packing material that boasts a 5 -10 times the life cycle and compresses to 10 percent of their mass footprint with full support of a nationwide material Return & Recycle Program from the vendor.
Metrofuser also has a huge societal benefit to the community. They operate in an Urban Enterprise Zone. An Urban Enterprise Zone is an area in which there are policies in place to encourage economic growth and development. An example of this would be their current location in Elizabeth, NJ. As part of their retention program, they offer mentorship and educational training to their workers who would not otherwise have been exposed to it.
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Will Demuth, Eric Katz, and Harold Petch founded Metrofuser LLC. in 2003 as an asset recovery company in New Jersey. Their innovative concept is in re-manufacturing office equipment, such as printers, so that the products are reused before getting recycled.
