Get real:Avoid the counterfeits
March 1st 2009 Once principally confined to the developing nations,
counterfeit roller bearings are now entering the supply chain
all over the world, not least in Europe and the UK.This is a
major problem, according to Graeme Davidson of ERIKS,and
it's one that all purchasers of bearings should keep in mind
Roller bearings are one of the most
widely used engineering components
and their design has the appearance
of being relatively straightforward. Small
wonder then that they have attracted the
unwelcome attentions of counterfeiters, who
find that they can turn inexpensive raw
materials into a readily saleable product that
commands a good price.
Once, the focus of the counterfeiters was
on markets in the developing regions of the
world, but now the fakers are looking for
outlets elsewhere. Europe and the UK are
seen as attractive targets because there is a
much lower expectation of counterfeiting, so
buyers are less wary, and because the fakes
are sold for strong readily convertible
currencies – euros and pounds.
The penetration of counterfeit products in
Europe has grown rapidly in recent years. In
2007 SKF destroyed counterfeit bearings
allegedly worth 8 million euros in a single
event. Not only is counterfeiting estimated to
cost the European economy in excess of 4.5
billion euros every year, counterfeit products
are, for users of roller bearings, quite literally
a disaster waiting to happen.
For the 'fortunate' ones, the consequences
may be no worse than greatly reduced
service life. Not that this is
necessarily a trivial matter;
bearing failures are always
disruptive and inconvenient,
and the consequential costs
of having equipment out of
service due to unexpected
bearing problems can be
enormous.
Counterfeit bearings can
have worse consequences. A
sudden catastrophic
bearing failure can damage
equipment so badly that
it's difficult if not
impossible to repair. It can
even endanger lives as in many
applications, bearings are safety related
components.
Counterfeit bearings cost Mika Häkkinen
victory in the San Marino Grand Prix in
1998.He had a clear lead when he experienced
a sudden gearbox failure, and was unable to
continue with the race. The subsequent
investigation revealed that fake bearings had
been inadvertently fitted to his gearbox, and
they proved unable to withstand the stresses
placed on them. Häkkinen was unhurt, but it
could easily have been otherwise.
So how can roller bearing users avoid the
risk of unknowingly buying and fitting
counterfeit products? It might be thought
that visual inspection would be a good guide
but this is no longer true. Counterfeiters can
now produce products that even experts
have trouble distinguishing from the real
thing. In some cases, markings have been
found to be clearer and better formed on the
fake bearings than on genuine products!
Packaging is an equally poor guide. It's
very easy for counterfeiters to produce good
quality packaging that is an accurate copy of
that used by the manufacturer. In fact, the
packaging may not even be fake. One trick
used by some counterfeiters is to remove
genuine bearings from their packaging and
sell them, usually at a small discount
compared with the local market price, and
then to use the genuine packaging for fakes!
Counterfeiters are also known to mix their
inferior and dangerous bearings with batches
of genuine products, making them even
harder to detect. Sometimes, no attempt is
even made to pass off the bearings as the real
thing – they are simply offered as direct
equivalents. This ploy is, however, only likely
to succeed with inexperienced buyers.
With roller bearings, as with almost every
other product, if the price sounds too good
to be true, it probably is. Prices significantly
lower than those found elsewhere for the same
product should trigger further investigation.
At the same time, however, it's important to
remember that there is nothing that compels
suppliers of fake bearings to offer them at low
prices, so price can never be a reliable guide.
Fakes may have been fed into the supply chain
at a relatively high level. The local distributors
who supply the end user may believe they are
offering genuine products, and that there is,
therefore, no reason why they should be sold
at anything other than regular prices.
This may make it sound as if it is virtually
impossible to avoid the problem of
counterfeits. That's not quite true. There is
an effective solution to this growing problem;
buy bearings only from suppliers that are
known to be trustworthy, and that can trace
supplies back to the original manufacturer.
ERIKS is one such company. It supplies
roller bearings of every type to businesses of
all sizes and has close relationships with
major bearing makers, including SKF,
Timken and FAG. It buys most of the
bearings it supplies direct from these
manufacturers, so there is no possibility of
counterfeit products entering its supply
chain. If it does need to use alternative
sources, the buying and engineering
expertise of its team and its relationships
with suppliers around the world, provide
dependable protection against counterfeits. More articles from ERIKS UK: | 
