Manufacturers are being warned of the threats posed by counterfeit engineering spares after a French distributor was found guilty of selling fake SKF bearings.

Roulement Bearings Kugellager was ordered to pay damages of #8364;45,000 to SKF late last year for distributing copies of its bearings. It was also ordered to pay all of the associated with the confiscation of the counterfeit products as well as the publication of the court order in three magazines.

Jeremy Salisbury at maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) products supplier Brammer said the increasing rate of incidence of fake bearings confiscation indicates a growing threat from counterfeiters seeking to exploit these challenging economic times.

“The threat from counterfeit bearings seems to be increasing and given the problems these products can create in terms of unscheduled downtime, reduced performance, damage to machinery, invalidation of warranty and the risk to employee health and safety, it is simply not worth the risk of buying through an unauthorised source,” he said.

“The potential impact on production uptime, equipment operational effectiveness and employee health and safety from using counterfeit products far outweighs any initial cost saving achieved through purchasing via an unauthorised source.”

SFK warns advises its customers to only buy from authorised dealers and has advice on its website on how to identify reconditioned, fake and tampered bearings.

SKF’s UK head office is based in Luton.

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