Parts Showdown: OEM vs. Generics

Service agents and manufacturers weigh-in on using OEM parts vs. generics as the ongoing debate continues.

By Amelia Levin, Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 7/1/2007

True Story: Girl goes to a certain popular, and affordable, brake repair shop to get squeaking brakes on her car fixed. Brake pads are replaced. Six months later, brakes start squeaking again. Girl goes to the dreaded dealership again where they often overcharge her. The dealer's repair technician tells girl that the brake shop technicians not only replaced the brake with an incorrect size pad, they also cut down the pad and removed a few parts of the brake system to make it fit. Girl freaks out. Thankfully, the car has a warranty. Brakes get fixed. Girl wants to sue the brake repair shop.

Sound familiar?

All too often scenarios like these occur, not just in the auto world, but also in the world of foodservice equipment and supplies. As a result, many service agents adamantly encourage, even require, the use of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) replacement parts vs. "generic" parts. The main reasons for this being that OEM parts keep equipment up to spec in order to prevent future breakdowns, fire hazards, food safety risks and energy consumption changes. As a result, purchasing a non-OEM part can often void an existing warranty because manufacturers encourage replacement parts come from their warehouses where they have undergone testing and approval. The Commercial Food Equipment Service Association (CFESA) code of conduct requires that its certified members only use OEM parts for replacement jobs.

So the question becomes, is this manufacturer loyalty warranted? Is it at all acceptable to use generics? And if so, when? In this article, we revisit the debate with some new views on the matter from service agents. First, though, a recap on why many service agents strongly encourage the use of OEM parts vs. generics.

Warranty and Liability Issues
"When you use a non-OEM part, you take risks with your insurance," says Carla Strickland, executive director of CFESA. "The equipment may not work up to its potential, and in some cases, it may create a fire hazard because it wasn't in code with the particular specs required. As a result, the manufacturer may invalidate the warranty. And if they (operators) have a fire, it'll cost them a heck of a lot more money to replace what they've lost than if they had used an OEM part."

Tina Reese, general manager of Commercial Appliance Parts & Service in Tampa, Fla., and former CFESA president, echoes Strickland's comments. "Often, if you (service agents) put in an alternative part when the product is under warranty, you don't get paid. The issue is that alternative parts are made similar to the OEM part, but they're not identical. Sometimes, you have to adjust them to make them fit, and that becomes an issue."

In the eyes of Tony Rapanotti, owner of AR Repairs Baker's Kneads in Center Line, Mich., outside of Detroit, "Anybody who has a contract with an equipment manufacturer should never sell generic parts, No. 1. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I constantly sourced generic parts. Sometimes generics are cheaper, but that can be because they don't have to warrant the part or pay to keep it on the shelf as the manufacturer is required to do."

There's also a fear of sourcing generics because of liability issues should the generic part fail and/or an accident occur. As a certified CFESA company, Rapanotti's company is required to warrant work for a minimum of 90 days. "If I use generics, they don't always have that type of guarantee. They may only warrant for 30 days, or in many cases, not at all. Usually with electrical parts, there's no guarantee. If the specs (voltage, amperage, etc.) on the alternate part are even a hair off and the equipment fails, when I go back to the generic house, at that point they might say, 'Sorry, we don't have a warranty on that part.' Whereas with the manufacturer, we have a mutual support of one another since the end-user is a shared and valuable customer of ours and it's in both of our best interests to warrant them."

Reese holds the same standards. "We warrant our work 90 days on labor and parts, so if the operator wants to use an alternative part, we just won't warrant it."

"Sometimes generics are cheaper, but that can be because they don't have to warrant the part or pay to keep it on the shelf as the manufacturer is required to do." Tony Rapanotti, owner of AR Repairs Baker's Kneads, Center Line, Mich.

Food Safety Concerns
Fire hazards aside, there's another major reason why OEM parts have warranties, and in many cases, why generics don't: food safety issues. If alternative parts offset the voltage or amperage on a piece of cooking equipment, there's a chance that the equipment won't cook food to the correct temperatures anymore, according to Mike Buelow, vice president of service at Enodis. Many schools and healthcare institutions require the use of OEM parts for this reason since they feed children and other high-risk populations.

In addition, generic parts often haven't gone through the same NSF, UL or other food safety and quality approval that the OEM part has. "Generics are purchased typically in bulk and are not quality-inspected before they are sold," Buelow says. "There is no standard for testing at the generic level. If a manufacturer designs a piece of equipment, individual components are tested for their individual uses. For example, a generic supplier of parts may only buy one replacement part and try to apply it to a fryer, an oven or other equipment. But now, the part that was supposed to fit just with an oven doesn't necessarily meet the same specs for a fryer."

Energy Consumption Issues
"The issue in some cases with non-OEM parts is that, in many cases, they fit, and appear to be the same, but they do not have the same electrical resistance," Buelow says. There are different grades, amps, voltage and other electrical characteristics. Some are gold-plated vs. bronze-plated vs. metal. These changes, though seemingly minute, can wildly impact an entire electrical circuit, resulting in not only fire hazard and food safety concerns, but also shifts in energy usage.

"The wrong voltage component will not only cause equipment to operate inefficiently, it will also increase facility energy costs. Certainly if it takes longer to cook foods to a safe temperature, an operator's energy costs will be higher," Strickland says.

Buelow adds, "We're not talking about big dollars here initially, but if you burn a little more energy every day for five years, it adds up."

Given such concerns above, it's hard to imagine why any service agent or operator would even think of using a generic part. But, there are certain situations when, actually, it's acceptable, even necessary.

"The issue is that alternative parts are made similar to the OEM part, but they're not identical. Sometimes, you have to adjust them to make them fit, and that becomes an issue." Tina Reese, general manager of Commercial Appliance Parts & Service, Tampa, Fla.

Obsolete Parts
Older equipment with parts that have been taken off the manufacturer's shelf after a certain number of years can, obviously, be difficult to track down. At that point, Reese says, purchasing alternative parts could be acceptable. "If the equipment is very, very old, and the manufacturer has quit making parts for it, then it might be OK to use generics," Reese says. "If you can't find what you need, certainly. But at that point, it might be time to just replace the equipment."

Rapanotti deals with this occasionally because of his work with bakeries, many of whom use European baking equipment. Ordering OEM parts from manufacturers overseas can be a challenging, and lengthy process. "If I can't always get the parts I need or at least in a timely matter, my customer would be out of business," Rapanotti says. "If I need one switch or one contact or a relay, it might cost way too much to get it from Europe, so I may need to order a generic. If it's something like a heating element or motor, however, the specs are crucial. Voltage, amperage, wattage, horsepower, phase, though, all have to be looked at really close." In other words, they need to match the OEM part.

"Mom-and-pop" restaurants may also be other candidates for the use of a generic part. "We might have a small mom-and-pop that has some older equipment that they've taken care of really well, but which has now become obsolete by the original manufacturer, and they can't afford to buy a new piece," Rapanotti says. "In this case, we may source a generic part provided that there are absolutely no safety concerns." The other thing Rapanotti has done in cases where he couldn't source an OEM part is work with other CFESA service agents to get the particular manufacturer's part he needs.

Rapanotti, Reese and Strickland all say they view these cases as exceptions to their "rule" of purchasing OEM parts. Rapanotti mainly keeps some generic parts catalogs on hand just for price reference. "We have to compete against the generic houses as well. Sometimes, we have to try and discount our parts and get them in close price range to keep up with competition and make endusers happy." But although there's a need to make end-users happy, Rapanotti says, "he'll never shop generic for price."

But herein lies the reason why generics, Rapanotti says, have slowly eroded the service agency business. Service agencies in general have had to raise their labor rates in order to offset the loss of revenue caused by these discounted generic parts, he says.

Role of the Service Agent
"We have a constant uphill battle getting the information about OEM parts down to the store level," Rapanotti says. "A lot of chains understand the importance of OEM parts at the corporate level but at the store level, operators don't always know if they're getting OEM or generic parts. That's why it's important for operators to ask their service agent whether the replacement parts are genuine OEM or not."

Similar to filters you find in your car, accessories like fryer baskets, liners and other simple items may not need OEM parts for replacement, Buelow says, and Rapanotti agrees. But there's a reason engineers designed a particular piece of equipment the way they did, they say. According to Rapanotti, "In our industry, as much as in any, equipment parts are designed to go with certain other parts. If you don't take into consideration all the different ratings, specs, amperage, voltage and other features when replacing parts, you may lessen the life of the equipment." This is particularly important to chains, who are becoming more and more interested in total equipment life-cycle cost.

The lowdown? While manufacturers may have certain replacement requirements, and service agents continue to inform operators about why you wouldn't want to go with generics, and why it might be acceptable, ultimately, the decision about which part to purchase remains up to the operator. Ultimately, the decision is, do you save time and money now, or do you risk losing more in the long run?