BCAS: Guard against use of non-original parts
November 26th 2010 The British Compressed Air Society has called on industry to guard against inadvertently using non-original parts.
The association explains: "It stands to reason that no one is going to copy a spare part and make it even better quality than the original, so at best; a non-genuine spare part can only be the same quality.
"The point of making the non-genuine spare part is to undercut the genuine spare parts in price, therefore the quality is often not as good as the original.
"Why do service engineers fit non-genuine parts and why do suppliers sell them? Mostly because of the extra profit they can make. Partially because they don't last as long in many cases, and that allows them to make more money later when they need replacing again. Occasionally, it's so they can reduce the cost of the repair to the customer."
BCAS suggests:
- Always ask for genuine factory parts.
- Make sure your service provider is using factory parts. Look at the manufacturer’s Web site to see the part and the box, and look at what is going into your system.
- Check the billing or receiving paperwork against the manual to see that the part numbers match.
- If you see a big price difference or if suddenly the part is half the price, it’s probably not a factory part, and will lead to higher lifecycle costs.
Remember that system downtime is a huge cost to you. Contact BCAS via www.bcas.org.uk for expert and impartial advice on compressed air system legislation, performance and best practice.
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