When capital investment for new plant and equipment is under pressure, many operators find themselves having to maintain existing machinery for longer periods of time. Ensuring the longevity and reliability of ageing assets is therefore critical, and a key part of any preventative maintenance plan is to ensure that the necessary spare parts and components are readily available. However, more than 70% of businesses have equipment with no spares’ availability and, in these circumstances, it can be tempting to source the most readily-available component in order to avoid the expense and hassle of equipment downtime.
Such components can be available with a good discount, but this can often prove to be false economy. The market is flooded with suppliers manufacturing counterfeit spare parts and components, which when installed, can have a serious impact on equipment performance and longevity. In worst-case scenarios, the wrong spare part can cause irreparable damage, rendering the machinery useless – or leaving the owner with a high repair bill.
SIGNS TO WATCH
Counterfeit spares are often made with inferior components, which means they can be lighter in weight and feel cheap or flimsy. Substandard plastic parts can also crumble; problems which are compounded when the part is put under load too.
In addition, customers should check for faults in the design, such as poor machining, asymmetry and inferior surface finishing, as fake spare parts are not subject to the same manufacturer testing as genuine components.
Examine the packaging closely. Cheaper materials and flimsy cardboard are often a sign that the spare part may not be genuine. This is especially the case if the customer is used to receiving parts in a plastic box and the new component arrives in cardboard packaging without any prior notification. Purchasers should also check how secure the part is inside the box, as counterfeit parts manufacturers are unlikely to invest in additional product packaging and the component may be loose or moving around.
Customers should [also] pay close attention to the barcode. Fake barcodes are easy to identify as they may be poorly printed or include spelling mistakes. Often the phrase ‘made in…’ will be wrong or missing and the country of origin may be different to the one that is expected.
It’s also advisable to peel back any stickers on the component. Counterfeiters will often place stickers over the top of each other to hide the original markings. Brand integrity is crucial to any business, and manufacturers will invest heavily to ensure that their assets are not compromised. So, if the logo, fonts or colours appear faded or out of alignment, it is likely that the part may be a fake.
Many counterfeit spare parts may have been manufactured by a foreign supplier, where English is not the native language. These grammatical errors, unusual phrasing or spelling mistakes on the labels would not be overlooked by a genuine manufacturer during design and development. One of the first moments that many businesses realise that their part is not genuine is when they open the instruction manual; unusual language, misspelling and poor-quality layout are all good signs that the part is not genuine.
PROTECT, PROTECT, PROTECT
Buyers should always spend a few more minutes checking the credentials of the supplier before making a purchase, making sure that they check the returns policy up-front to avoid any issues further down the line. Even if an operator has been unfortunate enough to have purchased a counterfeit spare part, there are still a number of steps that can be followed to help mitigate any risk.
Firstly, and a very obvious solution, is not to fit the part at all.For the sake of a few more hours of equipment downtime, the business could save significant cost in the long run and protect business performance.
Second, if the customer is concerned, it should contact the supplier immediately and ask for proof of the country of origin, return the spare part and ask for a full refund. It is also advisable to contact authorities, such as the International Institute of Obsolescence Management (IIOM), if a part is suspected of being a fake, as it can investigate the matter further.
When budgets are under pressure, the temptation to cut costs by sourcing cheaper alternatives is a dilemma many operations engineers can face. The most obvious answer is to always speak to a reputable and trusted supplier first in order to ensure that the part dispatched is genuine. When a business suspects it has received a counterfeit component, again, it should seek expert advice. Many engineers will have been trained in how to spot a fake part and can advise on where to source a genuine component