Counterfeit bearings
June 23, 2008
Almost impossible to spot the fakes
It is no longer only fake hand bags, luxury watches and designer clothing that are flooding our markets, but increasingly also safety-relevant industrial products such as rolling bearings.
Spurious bearings may look the same regardless of who made them or where you bought them, but don’t be fooled: poorly made bearings can have dangerous consequences for end users. |
Fake bearings causing engineers major headache
The recent onslaught of bogus bearings is creating a major headache for engineers and businesses alike. We’re alerted to this problem now almost on a daily basis. One of the engineers who experienced this problem commented that the suspect bearings didn’t last more than one hour after fitting! Counterfeiters are getting so good at reproducing original markings and packaging of bearings that even INA, FAG and SKF say them selves it’s difficult to distinguish the counterfeit from the legitimate bearings. Practices being used include:
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Exact copies with “genuine” markings and brand imprints including INA, FAG and SKF
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Used bearings which are re-conditioned to look like new ones.
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Bearings polished and ground to remove the rust and pit marks or oil and grease stains.
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Bearings remarked tolerances (ordinary class bearings marked as P6, P5 or P4 class) or altered clearance (C3 clearance bearing remade as plain bearing or visa versa) etc.
Exact copies with “genuine” markings and brand imprints including INA, FAG and SKF
Used bearings which are re-conditioned to look like new ones.
Bearings polished and ground to remove the rust and pit marks or oil and grease stains.
Bearings remarked tolerances (ordinary class bearings marked as P6, P5 or P4 class) or altered clearance (C3 clearance bearing remade as plain bearing or visa versa) etc.
There is no specific type of bearing that is targeted by counterfeiters. The fakes enter the market with bearings typically used in automotive back street after market applications, where less sophisticated users where apt to be taken in by the scam.
Precision bearings with extensive lead times
When the fakes got better, they entered the (OEM) precision bearing market where they are suffering extensive lead times. Now the copies have filtered down the run of the mill industrial products, sold often mixed in among the originals. Spurious bearings that don’t meet your technical specs can be expected to fail very quickly. The result: Premature failure that creates problems and economical loss, serious implications in safety-critical applications or tarnish your reputation.
Impossible to spot the fakes?
It’s almost impossible to spot the fakes. Often, only a technical lab could confirm their lack of authenticity. And only authorised distributors guarantee genuine products. Therefore, its probably best to buy your bearings from an authorised distributor.
Source: South China Morning Post
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SKF boosts capacity for its Chinese bearings facility
June 19, 2008
SKF plans to spend about $84.6 million to increase capacity at its large and medium-size bearings plant in Dalian, China.
The Swedish bearings manufacturer said the move was prompted by increased demand in China and Asia from the renewable energy, metalworking, mining, construction and industrial transmission industries.
The project will add 25,000 square feet to the Dalian plant, doubling its capacity and taking the total number of workers employed there from 240 to 600.
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Changes in China’s Bearing Industry
June 19, 2008
Through the 2005 International Bearing Industry Exhibition, we crapper wager that China bearing business had denaturized a aggregation in the time years.
Foreign Enterprises Began to Build Technical Center in China
In past, external enterprises exclusive shapely manufacturing being in China; in time years, all the external enterprises who had endowed in China before began to physique theoretical edifice here. By this way, they crapper move to the primary requirements of China’s consumers and matured the rattling products as presently as possible.
State-run Enterprises were Seriously Polarized
The state-run project ZWZ and HRB matured smoothly, ownership aweigh another enterprises. But LYC and Xiangyang automobile bearing Co.,Ltd etc had been acquired by others.
Private Enterprises Developed Quickly
Statisticly, the turn ratio between state-run enterprise, clannish project and external funded enterpirse had reached 2:2:1 in 2002; and in 2004 the ratio had embellish 5:11:4 .
From Jan. to Apr this year, over 80 proportionality of the operative edge of the full China bearing business was from clannish enterprises. C&U Group, Wanxiang Group and TMB crapper be regarded as the directive clannish enterprises in China bearing industry.
Source: Bearing India
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Defining China’s Bearing Industry Characteristics
June 18, 2008
Bearing group corperation and directive bearing enterprises that chosen by CBIA(China Bearing Industry Association) module travel nervy continuously. In visit to embellish more competitive, China bearing business should do something to encourage the theoretical advancement of bearing industry; move the think on the ordinary and key problems of bearing industry, especially the difficulty attendant to bearings service-life, reliability and stability; circularize discover famous sort strategy.
The utilization crapper be defined by the mass points:
1. obligation for bearings of famous sort accumulated dramatically. Customers began to country more tending to the calibre of bearings, so the famous sort bearings which is more sure and steady became the customers’ favourite.
2. impact organisation became more and more clear. Owing to the higher theoretical level, creation reliability, bearing assemble corperation and directive bearing enterprises ease are the directive enterprises in shrunken bearing cater market. China bearing enterprises became more combative in machine parts bearings market, sort of imported machine bearings decreased.
3. planetary change on bearings chages a little. Common-use bearings are ease the important bearing for export, high-end bearings’ goods module process slowly, high-end famous sort bearings are ease the important bearings we imported.
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Growing Grey Market
April 25, 2007
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Between 12 and 15% of bearing sales in the United Kingdom are made on the ‘grey market’ and puts end users and distributors at greater risk of costly breakdowns.
According to Schaeffler (UK), current estimates indicate that the UK’s ‘grey market’ for bearings accounts for between 12 and 15% of total UK bearing sales Not only does a growing grey market open up routes for more counterfeit products to enter the market, It also puts end users and distributors at greater risk of costly breakdowns, litigation and void warranties
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 2 Sep 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
Related stories
Improved track rollers offer better performance Yoke type and stud type track rollers contain needle rollers or cylindrical roller bearings with a profiled outer ring and can support high radial forces and axial guide forces. Low temperature bearings increase spindle speeds ‘Low temperature’ machine tool spindle bearings operate at significantly reduced temperatures – approximately 10 degrees lower than the average – resulting in speed increases of up to 10%. How do purchasers of bearings actually know that the products they are buying are genuine and will perform as well as they say on the data sheet? Most don’t have to worry because they purchase these products either direct from the bearings manufacturer or through an authorised distributor. This method guarantees that the manufacturer meets any product warranties associated with the bearing and that any technical problems with the product are resolved quickly and efficiently. So it’s worrying that in the UK, around 15% of all bearings are currently purchased via the ‘grey’ market, which refers to any purchase of a bearing that is not direct from the manufacturer or via an authorised distributor.
Further reading
New service advises on bearing maintenance To help its customers make maintenance programmes more effective bearing manufacturer INA FAG is offering a service giving independent diagnostic, monitoring and maintenance advice on bearings. X-life – a bearing quality double act from INA FAG Branded X-life, this new premium quality standard represents improvements in product design, product performance and service life that far exceed current standard values and expectations. Laser thermometer checks bearings Laser thermometer measures temperature of hard to reach or moving machinery components and will help machine operators act proactively against possible problems. The Internet, for example, has opened up more opportunities (and dangers!) for purchasers to buy bearings manufactured in the Far East and Africa but sold through unauthorised traders based in Europe, the Far East and Africa – indeed all across the world. Cross-border trading is commonplace and companies often sell off their surplus bearings to unauthorised traders. Although buying on the grey market doesn’t necessarily mean that the product is not genuine, it certainly increases the risk of customers ending up with counterfeit products. The grey market becomes an easier route for traders to supply counterfeit bearings into the UK. So why do companies purchase through the grey market? Cost is obviously the overriding factor here. * beware of low prices – as Des Pattinson, National Sales manager at precision bearings manufacturer Schaeffler UK, pointed out: “Although the offer price for the bearings may initially look attractive, buyers on the grey market have to ask themselves what are the potential hidden costs in terms of product liability and credibility with their customers if the product turns out to be counterfeit and things inevitably start to go wrong”. He said: “These could, for example, be critical bearings on high value machinery in a manufacturing plant. The buyer therefore needs to take into account the cost of any production downtime if the bearing fails early.” Purchasers also run the risk of not knowing how the bearings were stored, in what conditions and for how long. So, even if the bearing is a genuine product, the manufacturer of the bearing may not support product liability and the warranty becomes void. Pattinson offered a recent example: “A distributor bought some bearings from the grey market and asked us to analyse the products. Schaeffler discovered that the bearings were indeed genuine product but were more than six years old. This meant that the customer of these bearings would most likely have experienced lubrication problems that in turn could have caused costly machine breakdowns. There could also have been other performance-related problems due to incorrect storage and handling of the bearings during that six-year period. Under these risky circumstances, the distributor or end user of the bearing could be left totally isolated with no support from the manufacturer of the bearing.”. Buying from the grey market increases the likelihood of receiving counterfeit bearings, whether deliberately or accidentally. Earlier this year, Schaeffler destroyed more than 40 tonnes of counterfeit rolling bearings with a nominal value of around EUR 8 million at its FAG site in Schweinfurt, Germany. The bearings, which were INA, FAG and SKF-branded products, were seized at a Franconian rolling bearing dealer. “The financial damage resulting from such counterfeits is difficult to quantify, even for our companies alone,” commented Ingrid Bichelmeir-Bohm, lawyer and anti-piracy coordinator for Schaeffler Group. In addition to lost sales and significant loss of image through inferior-quality goods that may affect future business, there have been enormous costs arising from the investigation, seizure and professional disposal of the bearings. The disposal requires tight security, for only the full destruction of the counterfeits will eliminate the danger for the consumer. But the damage affects not only the companies producing brand-name goods and investing heavily in research, development and quality assurance. It also affects those companies that install these components. Rolling bearings are used in virtually every piece of rotating plant and safety-critical machinery and vehicles, from machine tools, wind turbines and X-ray apparatus, through to automotive, aircraft and rail vehicles. The Association of the German Tool Manufacturing Industry estimates that an annual 3,500 industrial accidents in Germany alone are due to counterfeit products. According to the German Engineering Federation (VDMA), the economic damage to the capital goods industry amounts to some EUR 4.5 billion per year. “If it weren’t for brand and product piracy, there would be about 70,000 more jobs in Germany,” said Doris Moller, Acting Board Member of the German Business Action Group against Product and Trademark Counterfeiting. In conclusion, buyers can only protect themselves and their customers from fake bearings by purchasing from a 100% reliable source – by sourcing direct from the manufacturer or via an authorised distributor.
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