Inside a tech giant's warehouse in quiet corner of Scotland resurrecting millions of ghost computers

It wasn’t that long ago a third of all personal computers made in Europe were built right here in Scotland. IBM, Motorola and Texas Instruments had manufacturing operations across the central belt. Those days are now over.

But there are holdouts. Tucked away on the outskirts of Erskine, Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s (HPE) Technology Renewal Centre has evolved from a Compaq computer factory in the late 1980s building 7,000 PCs every 12 hours to what it is today - the “jewel in the crown” of a multi-billion pound behemoth.

HPE Technology Renewal Centers have helped customers refurbish or retire their IT assets securely, as well as enable them to unlock value in their legacy infrastructure, which can be invested in new technology.. | John Devlin

What happens at a Technology Renewal Centre like Erskine?

“We take back old technology, not just HPs, any vendor’s technology. We assess it, we scrub it to a very high level secret squirrel standard, and we give it a second life,” explains Matt Harris - HPE’s MD for UK, Ireland, Middle East and Africa on a visit to the facility.

“We will refurb most of the equipment we get, we can refurb it and sell it to the resale-based market. Anything that we can't refurbish, we recycle. The amount that we actually send to landfill is tiny, absolutely tiny.”

HPE’s work resurrecting unloved technology  is split between this site on the west coast and another across the ocean in Massachusetts. They total 400,000 square feet, the largest IT manufacturer-owned refurbishing operation on earth.

Erskine alone processed 1.3 million assets last year (out of a 4.2 million HPE total, spread across Erskine, Massachusetts and partners).

More than 6 million pieces passed through Erskine’s shutters in the past five years.

Harris, who oversees the work of more than 6,000 staff globally, says firms which extract materials from the ground have a responsibility to refurbish or recycle their equipment, rather than sending it back into the ground.

He added: “We're incredibly proud of what we do here.”

Behind the scenes at a TRC

The interior of the Erskine TRC is cavernous and security is paramount. HPE counts government departments among its clients.

A 2.2m internal fence, accessible through a keycard and PIN-controlled gate, separates visitors from TRC staff - all of whom have undergone Ministry of Defence-level security clearance. More than 40 CCTV cameras cover every nook and corner of the site.

Inside this ring of steel, a remarkable team of local people work on one of Silicon Glen’s most high-end production lines.

Jackie Rafferty, TRC Operations Manager at HPEFS gives a tour of the facilities. | John Devlin

Jackie Rafferty is TRC Operations Manager, and David Connell is the company’s Global Engineering Manager. Both men are local, and both started work on this site when it opened under Compaq 37 years ago.

“We’re the best in the world here - that’s our typical Scots’ mentality. We’re proud of the work we do here in Erskine,” says Rafferty.

“It’s one of the best-kept secrets in the west of Scotland. We’re leading the way in sustainability and the circular economy.”

But it’s of his “world class” colleagues Rafferty is most proud. During the coronavirus pandemic, the TRC team were key workers and continued operating as a close-knit community.

Most, if not all, of the 450 or so workers at the TRC are based within 20 miles of Erskine. At one point the average length of service in the team was 25 years.

That number is falling as a breed of “young guns” comes through to pick up a generation of expertise from their colleagues and neighbours. And it is a family business - Rafferty smiles when he reveals his son works alongside him.

“Brexit was hard for us”, he says, but the TRC survived. They benefit from their proximity to Glasgow airport, the high spec of the factory dating back to its manufacturing days and, most importantly, the skills of the Erskine workforce.

There is a degree of automation in the plant but Rafferty says the team do not wish to take it further - the vast array of material they get in through the shutters, from servers to laptops and notebooks of all makes and models, means automation is trumped by human expertise.

“We like to work with people,” he adds.

Behind the scenes tour of HPE Technology Renewal Centre in Erskine, Scotland. | John Devlin

The future of Erskine TRC and the Scots who work there

Connell’s day starts in Erskine before the Massachusetts facility comes online. He says, ”HPE does business in 52 countries and consolidates assets in hubs in those countries before shipping to Erskine, which boasts that ready-made Scottish expert workforce.

“That is why this high-tech kit is sent right to the very edge of Europe.”

As many as three to five truckloads of assets a day are brought to the TRC and 180,000 assets are currently stored on site.

Among them are a series of water-cooled computer stacks, towering above Connell and Rafferty. These rare pieces are worth millions of pounds and, while client confidentiality means their origin was not revealed, were likely used for complex computer modelling at their previous European home.

Once kit comes through the door - when “custody” passes to the team - assets are graded and sanitised (or, for some “high-end security conscious clients” granulated) - all data is stripped, whether from magnetic disk or solid state drives.

This month, with a fair tailwind, HPE at Erskine could process more than 150,000 assets, a record for the team. From there, the equipment goes back out to market, to be leased wholesale and put back into use.

HPE Financial services holds around £10 billion of assets out on lease.

With the global tech and AI industry in rude health, Rafferty, Connell and Harris expect the Scottish team at the Erskine TRC team to have a bright and busy future.