Apple @ Work: What happens when you trade-in an old Apple product? Inside Assurants new facility to save devices from landfills

Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.

Many people in the Apple ecosystem love to stay on the latest and great iPhones, iPads, and Macs. If you’re trading in an old iPhone to one of your carriers, have you ever wondered what happens to them? Especially in recent years, old iPhones continue to offer a ton of value to new people, so I recently talked with the team at Assurant to learn more about their new facilities.

When you trade in a device, it’s easy to think the story ends there, but that’s just the beginning. Behind the scenes, companies like Assurant play a critical role in breathing new life into your old tech. Their latest facility, a 259,000-square-foot Innovation and Device Care Center in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, shows the scale and sophistication of today’s device lifecycle process.

Assurant’s new Nashville-area center, which doubles the size of their previous site in La Vergne, is set to process and repurpose millions of devices yearly. At this facility, about 800 people test, refurbish and prepare devices for new users or responsibily recycle if they’re beyond repair. In 2023 alone, their efforts kept 1.16M metric tons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere. It’s a massive impact from the devices users once thought were bound for the trash.

Once a device reaches Assurant’s “Device Care Center”, it goes through a series of carefully calibrated processes, many powered by AI and automation. A team of engineers works on-site to constantly improve these systems, using robotics and machine learning to enhance efficiency and quality. From diagnostics to software wipes, to component replacement and beyond, each step is part of a streamlined process designed to give devices a new purpose, often extending their lives by years.

While others may outsource, this new facility demonstrates our investments in innovative technologies and our people, allowing us to continuously improve our customer and employee experiences by owning every step in the process, said Biju Nair, EVP and president, Global Connected Living and International. These investments, along with our talented team, contribute to greater sustainability in the connected device ecosystem by efficiently supplying the global secondary device market.

Centrally located and in close proximity to our state’s capital, Mt. Juliet is primed to support Assurant and the opening of its new Innovation and Device Care Center,” said Stuart C. McWhorter, Commissioner, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Assurant will benefit from Nashville’s thriving tech talent pool and access to top-tier research institutions while also having the local support and resources needed for continued growth in Wilson County. I thank Assurant for its decision to stay in Tennessee, and we look forward to seeing the success that follows today’s grand opening.

But Assurant isn’t just focused on refurbishing; it’s also making a significant investment in the future of the Tennessee region. The company’s $100,000 grant to Middle Tennessee State University will help fund the Assurant Engineering Innovation Lab, which will support the training of future engineers in mechatronics and automation. This investment underlines the ongoing shift toward a circular economy in tech, where keeping devices in circulation as long as possible is both a business model and an environmental mission.

So, the next time you trade in an iPhone or iPad, remember that it likely ends up in a place like Assurant’s’s repair center, where it’s given a chance to power another person’s work—or at least help spare the planet a few more grams of waste

Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.