Among the partnership news from last week, one notable one was between FreeFlow, a provider of inventory asset management services, and Andlor, a provider of reverse logistics software for manufacturers, distributors and third party logistics providers.

The partnership pairs FreeFlow's award-winning solution for dispositioning returned, excess and obsolete inventory with Andlor's growing roster of customers that depend on its technology to manage the end-to-end process for returned products in the reverse logistics pipeline.

Traditionally, OEMs view reverse logistics for returned goods as a cost center, a necessary evil of doing business. Today, FreeFlow and Andlor are proving that by pairing reverse logistics software, which tracks and monitors returns with a fully hosted auction solution, with strategic business services, which dispositions the returned inventory, manufacturers can instead create a new revenue stream. Returned products that once sat idle or were recycled, because of the lack of a simple but strategic process for reselling the inventory, now are auctioned through the channel mechanism appropriate to the condition, status, and location of the inventory.

Both sides are quite optimistic about the partnership and its future as Paul Rupnow, Andlor's Director of Reverse Logistics Systems also noted "FreeFlow provides an opportunity for OEMs to transform that inventory into real revenue by finding the best channel for liquidation and bringing a unique market of buyers to the table for each auction."