St. Pete manufacturer buys high-tech recycler

St. Pete-based Jabil, a manufacturing and supply chain company, says it acquired Retronix, a provider in the reclamation and refurbishment of electronic components.

Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

"This acquisition demonstrates our commitment to our customers' and our own environmental initiatives," says Frank McKay, Jabil chief procurement and supply chain officer. "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."

Retronix has been a market leader in such high-tech processes, such as component recovery, laser reballing and component testing services, for 30 years, Jabil says. And the deal adds exclusive technologies to Jabil's portfolio while maintaining security, quality and certification standards, the company says.

Retronix services will enable Jabil to safely extract embedded valuable components from printed circuit boards and other electronics to minimize waste, create new value channels and mitigate future component obsolescence.

Jabil says the deal adds to the company's "circular economy" services including reverse supply chain management, medical device reprocessing, recycled packaging and emission reductions.

"It strengthens Jabil’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," the company says in a news release.

Both Jabil and Retronix work with brands across industries such as telecommunications, defense, automotive and healthcare.

Jabil has more than 250,000 employees across 100 locations in 30 countries, where they service major consumer and manufacturing brands.