(Feb 1, 2011)

SKF is internationally respected as a knowledge engineering company and specialist in rotating equipment. The SKF brand is associated with impeccable engineering and superior quality products and solutions across the globe which have remained uncompromised for more than a century.

SKF South Africa is entrenched as a trusted supplier of comprehensive, effective, turn- key solutions for diverse applications and SKF Senior Application Engineer, Darren Chetty, says that the local company follows the international SKF ethic of quality and service with customers' best interest at heart. "Our customers rely on us for assistance and advice to prevent unplanned downtime and the expenses associated with stoppages of a production line. They place their trust in SKF to identify problems with equipment and that is why one of our global key customers did not hesitate to call me when two of the plants experienced persistent early failures of Large Sized Bearings, (LSBs)."

"I visited the site at the beginning of this year, inspected the store, determined that the supposedly SKF branded LSBs were in fact not SKF bearings and immediately quarantined the bearings to prevent them from being put into production and we informed our customer that the counterfeit bearings could cause damage to plant and equipment if they were put into service," explains Chetty.



Designation marking does not conform to SKF standards

Chetty explains that it was a fairly long process to get the case started when taking prosecution, statements, attorneys, the customer's group legal department, SKF's input, etc. into consideration. "In fact we are all involved and we had to make sure that everything was in place and that the correct legal procedures were followed to allow both the customer and SKF to successfully pursue the investigations.

Once the bearings were identified as counterfeit and quarantined, the internal investigation of the customer's group legal department revealed the source of the bearings and immediately made the information, including invoices, available to SKF."

Chetty says that the potentially disastrous consequences of using counterfeit products and the damages these products can do to the customer's expensive equipment and the all important bottom line, can never be over emphasised. Premature bearing and mechanical failures associated with substandard products frequently cause massive damage to equipment and lead to unplanned downtime and loss of production and revenue - all compelling reasons for the customer to use caution before purchasing so called 'brand name' bearings at special prices and then putting such counterfeit bearings into service once SKF has identified and quarantined them because SKF cannot be held liable for damages and losses caused by counterfeit products."



Inferior quality

He lists a few reasons for the persistent premature failure of the counterfeit LSBs: "The bearings are not designed to SKF standards, the design is in fact vastly inferior, the manufacturing of the bearings and components is substandard and these inferior bearings and components impair equipment performance."

According to Chetty, SKF has two strategy pillars for combating counterfeit products: "Firstly assisting local law enforcement in combating counterfeiting and creating awareness amongst customers of the existence of counterfeiting of SKF products and secondly, assisting the customer to ensure that all the information is disclosed in order to allow full investigation of counterfeit bearings. In this instance, and with the customer's assistance, we are investigating a case of infringement and misuse of the SKF brand while our customer's legal department is continuing internal investigations into the purchase of counterfeit LSBs from an unregistered vendor and pursuing other legal ramifications caused by the purchase." Counterfeit products always present problems for companies that supply only OE products.

"The logos and the packaging are so well reproduced that even experienced OE suppliers have difficulties in spotting the counterfeit products and in my experience, only a trained eye and very careful inspection can identify counterfeit so it must be even more difficult for the 'layman' to judge a product," states Chetty.

"However, from our perspective, industry is becoming increasingly aware of 'grey' products and our customers are quick to call on us when premature bearing failures persist and the product simply does not perform to the customer's expectations of SKF's rotating equipment". Chetty concludes: "Our customers are well informed and know that all SKF products re designed, engineered and manufactured to the highest possible quality standards to eliminate damage to plant and equipment as far as possible.

SKF focuses on delivering uninterrupted performance and maximum production and we live up to SKF's international philosophy of sharing knowledge and presenting superior quality products and total solutions, supported by exemplary service to customers across industry. We believe that preventing counterfeit products from entering local markets is integral to SKF South Africa's customer commitment.

We remain determined, more than ever, to stamp out the scourge of counterfeit products and the company enjoys the full cooperation of industry, customers and law enforcement agencies to deal with the problem".

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