The first definition of genuine in my dictionary is "really coming from its stated, advertised, or reputed source." In every sector of every industry, the customer will probably need parts at some time in the life cycle of his or her equipment, whether it is for a personal vehicle, a household appliance, an office computer, a microturbine, a generator, or a control panel. From conversations with consumers and purchasing agents, there seem to be two main criteria in the selection process: price and quality.

It is somebody's responsibility in every company and public authority to obtain the best possible price for every item. "When you must decide about a bargain price but be cautious about a potential lack of quality, it helps if you yourself have some qualifications and experience to make the decision," observes David Hedel, staff engineer in the compressor engineering department of Williston Basin Interstate Pipeline Company (a subsidiary of MDU Resources Group Inc.). "You could say it is our knowledge and expertise which justify our jobs and salaries. There will sometimes be applications where we don't have the right qualifications to evaluate the quality of a product from a source that is offering a low price. Buying a part that fails quickly or does not perform as efficiently and cost-effectively as specified is clearly more expensive than buying one that lasts and does the job perfectly." Some of the responsibility, then, rests on the shoulders of the customer or user to make sure (at all costs?) that the replacement part keeps the machine or system going as it should. "Replacement parts should keep a machine or system functioning to the same level of performance as that for which you decided to buy it in the first place," observe virtually all the technicians and managers in our industry.

"Identical" Might Not Be "the Same," or Vice Versa

"There is absolutely a difference in OEM [original equipment manufacturer] parts and non-OEM parts," asserts Tom Levis, marketing manager at Tuthill Energy Systems. Among Tuthill Corporation's family of products are familiar names like Cablecraft; Bristow and MFB for controls; and, in energy systems, Coppus Turbines, Murray Turbines, and Nadrowski Turbines. "OEM parts are made from original engineered drawings," continues Levis. "This ensures that tolerances and materials are consistent and correct. Non-OEM part manufacturers do not have access to original drawings and will typically 'backward engineer' a part to create a blueprint. They will certainly not be as accurate as the original drawings, and how do they know that the part they are using as a template is original? It could be second-, third-, or fourth-generation, made differently each time."

At Tuthill Energy Systems and an impressive number of other manufacturers, quality control engineers routinely test and check the equipment and recommend making modifications and changes as necessary to designs for improved performance and reliability. "These changes may never be recognized or made by a non-OEM parts supplier," says Levis. He and others also point out that, if OEM parts and service technicians do, or a certified OEM technician does, the repairs on equipment, the history of the equipment is clean. "It means the manufacturer knows everything that has been done to that machine since the day it was built. When you have equipment like steam turbines [that can be in service for 30, 40, or even 50 years], that becomes important. With a clean history, the OEM can diagnose service problems more quickly and accurately; customers selling equipment with a clean history will probably get a better resale price. At Tuthill Energy we often buy back our Coppus turbines. If they are 100% serviced by us, we don't hesitate to make an offer, but we're reluctant to take a chance on the others."

When asked if there is a significant difference between genuine and non-genuine parts, world leader Caterpillar is quite explicit. "Genuine Caterpillar parts are made to precise design specifications [that are higher than industry standards] and dimensional accuracy," observes Fred Roszhart, electric power product support manager for Caterpillar. "There is specific material quality, and we provide special surface finishes. Our parts are designed for a total system focus that embraces part, component, machine, and application. Of major importance to our customers is that we analyze our parts and their performance continuously for quality and consistency."

How This Affects our Industry?

One aspect of this situation that we have perceived (but have not managed to compile adequate confirmed data on) is that the customer requirement for genuine parts seems to grow stronger as the value of the equipment goes up. An explanation offered for this is that, although the control or bearing we need costs $275 when we could get a non-genuine version for $86.50, an improper small part can ruin a whole system that costs $432,957. "The extended importance of every part in your system should not be underestimated," agrees David Hedel from his experience in the pipeline industry. An example could be a valve on a cylinder head into which an inferior part is placed. If the valve fails, it can drop into the combustion chamber and hit the piston. You could then lose the piston, which could damage the crank and then put a connecting rod through the block. As a result, you could have the inexpensive part destroying the entire engine block. Anything that can get into the combustion chamber, into a turbocharger, or into any part of the intake system to an engine or turbine could cause serious damage.

Darren Jamison, vice president of operations for Northern Power, makes some excellent points. "Most distributed energy projects have only been installed in the last few years," says Jamison. "As such, many parts used in them are still under OEM warranty, so there has not been a significant problem with non-genuine parts in the recent DG [distributed generation] market boom. I suspect that we'll see more problems in the next two or three years as plants age and as more operators and owners are looking to cut their maintenance expenses by installing non-genuine parts. At this time we have not noticed that the use of non-genuine parts plays a significant role in breakdowns or outages."

When asked if customers are more likely to use genuine parts when the system involved is expensive, such as those for a multithousand or multimillion dollar installation, Jamison tells us that, in general, that seems to be true. "The more expensive and technological the system, the more customers will have reservations about using non-genuine parts. Rightly so, I think. If non-genuine parts are installed in a $10 million system and that system has a critical failure, the individual who bought those parts may have saved a few dollars initially but cost his company thousands in lost production when one of them fails prematurely."

Is there a parts problem developing that affects the power markets? Is it possible that some manufacturers have not anticipated correctly the demand for genuine parts? "Parts availability is one of the key strengths of Caterpillar and the Cat dealer distribution network," assures Barney Fitton, product support strategy manager for Caterpillar. "We are currently receiving record volumes of inbound parts to keep up with exceptionally strong demand. A team of managers from Purchasing, Inventory Management, and Expediting are working (internally and with suppliers) to distribute material to the appropriate points in our supply chain, to maintain and improve availability, and to minimize customer downtime. We feel the system is performing well for us, our dealers, and our customers."

There is another practical, significant issue. "When the original equipment manufacturer comes on-site to do warranty work or an assessment to determine what failed in your system, if it has been determined that you used non-genuine parts in the system, the manufacturer can void the warranty arrangement and deny policy or support for their unit," cautions Jamison. "There is a definite risk if you want factory support and use non-factory parts."

A Confusion of Names

What is an OEM part? If we were discussing cars, it would be a part made by the same manufacturer as the genuine part; it would be the one you get at the automotive dealership, wouldn't it? It's not quite as simple as that. Car manufacturers (and others in various sectors of industry) do not build every part used in the production of the finished product. Independent companies will manufacture parts to agreed specifications, and the car manufacturer adopts them for the finished product and then puts them in its own packaging for spares. After an agreed time, the "real" manufacturer of the part is allowed to market it to wholesale distributors. They appear in the real manufacturer's box, not in the car manufacturer's box, and they usually cost considerably less than those offered at the auto dealership. Parts distributors emphasize that such parts are not counterfeit or copies. "They are exactly the same parts in different packaging," we have been told.

An "aftermarket part" is not the same thing. It is produced by companies other than the original (real) manufacturer, and it is designed and made to fit and perform as well as the original. This is probably the most controversial area of the genuine parts situation. Sellers of aftermarket parts will say the engineers of their manufacturers might spot weaknesses and actually produce spare parts that are superior to the originals. That is possible, of course, but how will you know? In the second paragraph of this article, we were cautioned to use our own knowledge and experience to know the true value of a spare part. In a world where there seems to be an increasing number of self-styled experts in every field, true expertise in the evaluation and acquisition of parts is invaluable in both private and public sectors.

Throughout our discussions, we perceived another trend. Manufacturers warn customers against those parts that are claimed to be identical and equally good, especially if they come from certain foreign countries. Some years ago we met an engineer who had designed a submersible electric pump. He took it to a foreign country (unnamed here but seeming to gain strength each year) to show how well it worked. He was furious when he arrived at the port to find that a careless crane operator had gouged a curving furrow down the pump's outer casing during the unloading process. The visit did not seem to be a great success, and our inventor/engineer did not sell his pump. About three years later, he saw a pump that looked like his at a trade show, not abroad but here in the United States. On closer inspection, this "new" model was too much like the one he had presented abroad. It was a different color, but it had the same curving furrow down the casing! This time, the unsightly gouge had been placed deliberately, presumably because the copiers did not know what it was for or how it got there.

Let's not leap to the conclusion that all foreign-made parts are inferior! That would be the uninformed opinion of a political ostrich. "It is no more common that counterfeit parts come from abroad than genuine parts do," says Darren Jamison of Northern Power. "In this global economy, many OEM parts are made overseas. There may be some manufactured in areas that have a lower cost of doing business, but I don't think that the quality is then necessarily sacrificed. Most original equipment manufacturers are looking for the best-quality parts around the world for the best possible price."

Some items are simply counterfeit. These are made as deliberate copies of the real thing, but there is little attention paid to quality and no apparent concern about performance. Counterfeit products are particularly common in some industries, with estimates that about 10% of toys and sporting goods are counterfeit and the same amount of perfumes and toiletries. On the plus side for our readers, it seems that most counterfeit products are in the "luxury item" arena rather than in that of distributed energy, possibly because few of us are experts when it comes to those luxury items we love. We are (thank heavens!) unlikely to buy anything for our power system from a gentleman selling from a suitcase on Main Street.

Are there any telltale signs to warn the customer about counterfeit goods? In the retail world, they would be things like inferior packaging or labels, logos and brand names that are weakly attached. For industrial parts, the inferiority often lurks in the materials used, the metals or plastics. We're back to knowledge and experience, aren't we? They are our best weapons against counterfeit products.

Constant Vigilance

"There are definitely non-OEM parts that are as good as the originals," contends Jamison. "Many of those non-OEM parts come from the same suppliers who are providing the OEM parts. How you would know them is a much more difficult question to answer. It can be challenging to figure out which are the real quality parts that would be used by the OEM versus those that are knock-off or counterfeit parts." He advises that, when deciding to use non-OEM parts, it is safest to limit those parts to areas that are external to the system, such as a water pump, jacket water heater, or battery charger. In other words, it might be wisest to use non-OEM parts only in areas of the system where it would be easy to identify that they are from the same supplier that the original equipment manufacturer used. "If you buy non-OEM engine parts, it is very hard to tell whether an internal engine or turbine part comes from the same OEM supplier or not," adds Jamison.

That brings us back yet again to that point about expertise, doesn't it? By talking to aftermarket parts suppliers as well as to the OEM suppliers, you can learn what is good and what might not be. Every buyer should get proof of origin of the part required. Your engineers should determine whether a part has been reverse-engineered or whether it is identical to what was supplied by your OEM. Get references! Ask some other customers what kind of life they are getting from the same part purchased from the same supplier. "It comes down to being a good steward of your system," says Jamison. "Educate yourself to understand exactly what you are buying, what the reputation of the supplier is, and what kind of performance you can expect so that you are investing your money wisely."

The advantages of using genuine parts seem to extend beyond the price or performance of one particular item. "We believe that using genuine Cat parts for Cat equipment from your Cat dealer will give you the lowest cost-per-hour operating costs," advises Roszhart for Caterpillar. "It means the highest machine and engine availability and the best resale value for your equipment. From the customer's aspect, the genuine parts will give the best profitability and performance. May we stress again that the parts for our systems are designed for that total system focus? In other words, they are designed to work together‹just like the originals."

If you feel that manufacturers are too sensitive about using their genuine parts, you should understand that they are almost always the first people to blame when anything goes wrong. What is astounding is that there have been cases where the manufacturer's dealer has replaced genuine parts with non-genuine parts and the customer does not expect or know this. In multi-thousand-dollar systems, the customer expects replacement parts to be of a quality and efficiency equal to the original. In those cases, the manufacturer does not know that replacement parts (used in routine overhauls and maintenance) are not genuine. The manufacturer, like the customer, assumes they are.

A parallel and interesting case happened with Ingersoll-Rand (I-R) Company. It concerned ATF (automatic transmission fluid) in the company's compressors. Originally the lubricants used in auto transmissions were adequate for the compressors. Then transmission fluids went from Dextron I to Dextron II and then Dextron III. The fluids involved changed dramatically. Suddenly there were reports of foaming and the systems would back up. Even in systems over 300 pounds per square inch it was a problem. "We had not been told about the changes," comments Dan Marion, I-R regional aftersales manager for the Southeast. "What we had to do was design our own fluid. We contracted with an independent chemical company to produce the correct formula. We tested it thoroughly, especially for its performance in extremes of temperature. It was an expensive project." You can see from that experience how the components of a system can be changed adversely, without the manufacturer's permission or even knowledge. Gary Hirsch, vice president for aftersales at I-R, reminds us that a product like a generator is a system. "When an independent distributor, for example, adds a non-genuine component and says it is the same as the original, it may work to a point, but then it can affect the whole system differently," cautions Hirsch. "It may be something as simple as not using the correct heat treatment for the part or skipping any production step that will make the part less expensive. If your local supplier says it's the same thing, only cheaper, you should investigate the claim. Small parts that were 'almost right' have been known to severely impact the performance of a piece of equipment or destroy major systems in the power sector."

Vulnerable Targets

Apart from repeating (yes, again!) that your own knowledge and experience might be your best defenses against shoddy, potentially catastrophic parts, we should mention that public authorities were cited by several correspondents as the most vulnerable targets. One case mentioned was that of transit bus authorities, with municipalities forced to accept the lowest-bidding suppliers for products ranging from filters to engine parts. Transit properties, it seems, have had premature failures because of non-genuine parts bought under those pressures. Some owners in the sector of distributed energy are public authorities. A major task for purchasers will be to persuade the owners‹i.e., the public, you and me‹that being constrained to buy the cheapest parts might not be cost-effective.

The dangers inherent in careless purchasing or not knowing about parts quality can be seen in most practical consequences. "There would be warranty infractions and loss of coverage," warns Roszhart. "The apparent short-term cost savings would be more than offset by long-term failure costs. This could be most obvious when replacement/will-fit parts are used in systems where they damage or lower productivity or reduce part life in other segments of a system. A lower equipment availability would be likely; that is something one can never hide or compensate for. A further disadvantage, perhaps less obvious, of using replacement/will-fit parts is that the customer's preventative maintenance and repair programs could be made obsolete and worthless."

The conclusion we perceive, after talking with manufacturers, suppliers, and customers, is that we should never underestimate the importance of the quality of any individual parts for our systems.

PAUL HULL writes on construction and environmental topics for several international magazines.

DE - July/August 2004