Obsolete Inventory

I wanted to talk about an issue I encountered during my internship this summer--what should you do with obsolete inventory. Working for a company like Intel, obsolete inventory is a constant concern as new technologies are developed. During my internship, I was faced with the problem of figuring out what to do with a small stockroom full of medical devices (peripherals) that had been previously purchased to test/use with Intel's Health Guide. These devices became obsolete for a variety of reasons--they expired, the suppliers changed the software, Intel decided to use different peripherals, etc. We considered several options, such as reselling the devices through Intel Resell, holding on the the inventory for testing purposes only, destroying the inventory, or even donating the inventory to a hospice. Intel Resell was ruled out immediately due to the fact that Intel Resell is a corporate-wide division that sells computer products, Intel did not want to get involved with selling items such as blood pressure cuffs, scales, oximeters, and other medical peripherals. We played with the idea of keeping the inventory for some testing purposes, but the inventory had not been controlled as well as it should have been, so it was difficult to differentiate between the peripherals that had the most up-to-date software and the truely obsolete peripherals. The easiest thing to do would have to get rid of the inventory, but because these peripherals were medical devices, I had to consult with others familiar with the FDA regulations. It was determined that the best thing to do would be to donate some of the devices that could be considered "non-medical," such as scales to a hospice and to destroy the remaining obsolete items in inventory. Disposal of the destroyed items is a whole separate issue, but it is also something to consider. This example shows that a seemingly simple inventory issue can have multiple levels of complexity.