Denver -- Protecting intellectual property rights has become a serious problem for manufacturers of all types, especially in the automotive aftermarket. Offshore counterfeit parts may look the same as genuine parts and even come in, what looks like the same box, but their similarities stop there, said James Burke, president and CEO of Drive Train Industries (DTI), a Denver-based distributor of commercial truck parts with ten locations in Wyoming, Colorado, and New Mexico.
Parts distributors who import offshore parts must be cautious with whom they're doing business with, he said. Similarly, shops must be aware of the quality of parts they're installing.
A tire distributor from New Jersey recently learned this lesson the hard way when his supplier omitted a gum strip from the tire-manufacturing process, designed to prevent a tire's steel belts from separating from the tread. This manufacturing oversight placed the liability squarely on the distributor's shoulders, a New York Times article reported.
Like faulty tires, when it comes to improperly engineered air-brake parts on heavy-duty trucks, the results can be fatal, Burke said.
"There's no other component on a truck that has to do more with safety than the brakes," Burke said. "If something catastrophically goes wrong with the brake system, there's a likelihood that you're going to get into an accident.
"Bendix is taking the counterfeit parts issue pretty seriously," he said. "They're trying to promote the genuine name and parts. You really don't want to compromise the safety aspects of those components."
DTI separates itself from other distributors by aligning themselves with Bendix, which has taken a strong stance against counterfeit parts. "Bendix promotes its Platinum Distributors, a guarantee that you're getting a quality, genuine product," he said. "For us, we can go out and say we're selling genuine Bendix parts."
Burke said DTI is one of 22 Bendix Platinum Distributors across the country that is required to train employees and educate their customers, he said.
In some cases, the fleet managers are unwittingly purchasing counterfeit Bendix parts, Burke said, adding that the parts may look identical, share the same part number, and come in a similar box.
The reality is that many fleet managers purchase parts based solely on price, Burke said. "They're looking to get as much cost per mile as they can." Paying a few dollars more for a genuine part is insurance for the fleet manager if something goes wrong, he said. The manufacturer of counterfeit parts usually does not carry the necessary liability insurance to protect both the distributor and his customer. Counterfeit parts are also affecting the overall price in the market, he said, turning the parts into a commodity items.
The counterfeiting problem stems from the U.S. manufacturers who first established manufacturing operations in China several years ago, Burke said.
"Some manufacturer's employees took the design and began producing it on their own and set up distribution channels," he said. Now a second generation of counterfeiters is ripping off the original counterfeiters' design and seek to set up distribution, he said, pointing out that the original engineering integrity of those parts is now twice removed.
The parts look the same but simply don't perform, Burke said. Pointing to an air-drier cartridge as an example, he said the counterfeit and the original part look identical because it's an enclosed cylinder. "There is no way to distinguish its internal parts."
Perhaps even more dangerous is a counterfeit relay valve for an air-brake system, Burke said. The part is designed to deliver appropriate amounts of air through the brake system and affects the timing of the brakes. It may look the same from the outside but has none of the characteristics of the original engineering on the inside, critical to delivering appropriate air pressure through a truck's primary brake system, he said.
DTI makes inroads in service
DTI has begun to make inroads into the commercial truck service business with its mobile repair trucks in Arvada and Colorado Springs and its operation in Greeley, Burke said.
"From what I understand, Greeley has the highest concentration of truck registrations in Colorado," he said, adding that DTI has leased a bay from one of its customers to test the area. The firm is planning to do the same thing in Grand Junction, on Colorado's Western Slope, he said, adding that it's a natural progression to add service in the same locations as the parts stores.
