The fight against fakes: How industry is hoping to tackle the problem of counterfeit bearings

In the UK we often feel that industrial counterfeiting of components like bearings and fasteners is something that is happening in China, perhaps Eastern Europe, but not in the finely-honed supply chains that exist around Europe. But counterfeiters are getting ever more sophisticated in their own supply chains and distribution networks which are most definitely penetrating the western world. The US military is the most recent high-profile example of buying fakes. Around 1,800 cases of counterfeited parts were found on everything from helicopters, cargo planes, and fast jet aircraft to night vision goggles, radios and GPS devices. A probe in to the problem found around 70% of the parts originated in China. But with everyone so heavily invested and committed to doing business there, is this avoidable? Johan Bravert, counterfeit verification and case handling manager at SKF Bearings, says: "The main mass of the 'good looking' counterfeit copies are coming from China. There are companies in China that are more or less spamming out emails that offer free deliveries on a lot of different products at a fairly good price. "It is not uncommon that these companies in China pretend to be authorised distributors or have some kind of relationship with SKF, and it could be that someone couldn't get hold of the product they needed, they find the price attractive, or they get desperate for it, so they place an order." Scanning through the editor email inbox here at Eureka we identified two such emails within the last two weeks, which although they could be genuine, look a little on the dodgy side. These are common and regular, with some looking much more genuine than others. The big problem is, it is actually very difficult to know what is real and what is fake. There is also a difference compared with consumer goods in the way that industrial counterfeiters work. In the consumer world, mass produced counterfeit products are pushed out to the marketplace regardless of demand, with no specific orders to fill. However, counterfeiters of bearings are very skilled and respond very quickly to demand. They can produce different brands of bearings, with identical embossed logos and boxes, to the real ones. And despite the perception that smaller bearings are easier to copy, larger bearing counterfeits are increasingly common. There are a huge number of independent 'non-authorised' distributors of industrial components around the UK, from bearings to fasteners. These are fully legal but have not been scrutinised by the OEM to check compliance to a criteria of operation like authorised distributors. Unfortunately, this creates a gap that allows counterfeiters to infiltrate the market. There have been recent cases of UK distributors that have knowingly brought counterfeit bearings from China to distribute around the country. Last year, SKF carried out a raid in Scotland and found a company had brought cheap fake bearings from China to then re-sell at normal prices locally. This is also one of the main differences with industrial counterfeiting vs. commercial: goods are generally around the same price, not dramatically cheaper as you might expect. "The end customer pays more or less the same price for a counterfeit product as they would a real one," says Bravert. "Any more than about 10% off the price and people start complaining to SKF asking how it's possible that this company can sell them so cheap." The counterfeiters take old and used bearings, strip them down and remanufacture them. These low-quality bearings are re-labelled with false brand markings and put into imitation packaging that appears identical to the real thing. Very old bearings can be cleaned and polished to such a high standard that it is hard even for experts to tell with the naked eye if they are fake or not. But when it comes to performance, the difference is clear. And that is the problem with counterfeited bearings: the unpredictability of performance. Buying products from respected brands instils a sense of expectation when it comes to quality. It allows maintenance schedules to be planned and smooth operations to be carried out. Sometimes counterfeit products can fail after just a few hours and in a catastrophic fashion, causing unscheduled maintenance, forced shutdown and potentially causing damage to a machine and operator. For example, after only 14 hours of continuous operation, a generator onboard a marine vessel began experiencing such extreme vibration that it had to be shut down. As the generator had just undergone repairs, the crew was immediately suspicious. The vessel's maintenance team removed the suspect bearing and sent it to SKF for bearing failure analysis which concluded that the bearing was indeed counterfeit. Similarly, for one unfortunate petrochemical processor, it took an emergency shutdown to reveal that it was being supplied with counterfeit SKF bearings. Following just two days of operation, one of its bearings failed in a crucial application, forcing a costly unplanned shutdown. "As long as there are genuine buyers, there will be counterfeit suppliers," says Bravert. "If an area is very focused on shipping, for instance, then that sector is usually more affected. In other areas it could be automotive parts, while in Scotland the company was very focused on oil platforms and offshore activities. "In Dubai and Saudi Arabia we have a big problem with the grease we use to lubricate the bearings. That is the only region in the world where we actually see counterfeit grease. This is because they drive transport trucks through the desert so need to lubricate bearings much more frequently. This leads to a higher demand of grease and drives its counterfeit production." The message from SKF is representative of the bearings industry in general. This is a problem that exists throughout the world, including the UK, and is not confined to those operating, or buying from the Far East. In general, though, the bearings community is working extremely hard to raise awareness of this problem among its customers. "We still have a lot of cases where we do see counterfeiting, but we do feel it is moving in the right direction," says Bravert. "More customers are aware of the problem and know the best way to avoid a counterfeit product is to buy from an authorised distributors." Like many bearing manufacturers, SKF has rigorous criteria which distributors need to follow to become authorised. Though the majority of non-authorised distributors operate and offer the 'real-deal', SKF like other bearings companies, cannot guarantee customers are getting exactly what they are paying for.