Earlier this year Heritage Parts, the foodservice industry's leading parts distributor, announced its commitment to providing 100 percent genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts.

Heritage has always directly represented more OEM parts than any foodservice parts distributor, and recently its leadership decided that committing to 100 percent OEM parts would be the best way to ensure its customers continued receiving only the highest-quality parts and to emphasize its support of its more than 800 OEM partners.

"Through extensive research, we learned that Heritage was too often perceived as a provider of generic parts in direct conflict with the interests of our OEM suppliers, despite the fact that more than 94 percent of our sales were OEM," said Heritage Chief Executive Officer John T. McDonough.

He added that the Heritage leadership also discovered their customers overwhelmingly prefer to rely on exclusively OEM parts "because of their performance, longevity, safety and warranty protection."

So what exactly makes OEM parts superior? As McDonough explained, there are several key advantages:

• You can rest assured the part is meant for your equipment because the parts and equipment were made together.
• It's going to fit the first time. No more repair delays due to faulty parts.
• Equipment runs at maximum efficiency with original parts, saving energy, time and money.
• Less wear and tear on your equipment means a longer life.
• OEM parts are designed by the OEM and tested in the machine itself, guaranteeing their safety and efficiency.
• Using generic parts will void your machine's warranty.

In addition to saving you time and eliminating the hassles that come with getting the wrong part, using exclusively OEM parts is a key component in prolonging the life of your machine, guaranteeing it runs safely and at optimal performance.

And then there's that warranty.

Even if your machine is no longer under warranty, the fact that generic parts void a machine's warranty should stop you in your tracks. Choosing to guarantee only genuine OEM parts shows that manufacturers truly believe in the parts they create. They even put their money where their mouth is by backing up that confidence with a warranty.

Why are manufacturers so confident about OEM parts? Because they know the tried-and-true manufacturing process that distinguishes OEM parts from generics.

Only OEM parts are tested in the specific machines for which they're made. Based on the results of that in-machine testing, OEM parts are modified by engineers with an intimate knowledge of the machines themselves. Generic parts, by contrast, are untested, unmodified and designed by people without any knowledge specific to the machines these parts need to fit.

What it comes down to is this: Relying on generic parts means gambling with the safety and longevity of your equipment. That's why Heritage decided to just say no to generic.

McDonough puts it this way: "We believe now is the right time to focus on providing 100 percent genuine OEM parts to strengthen our product offering, our customer relationships and our commitments to our OEMs."

Heritage didn't become the industry's leading parts distributor by gambling with their customers' satisfaction. They did it by providing the largest in-stock inventory of quality parts available, backed up by a unique team of industry expert parts specialists.

And now that Heritage has committed to providing exclusively OEM parts, Heritage customers can be even more confident that they'll get the quality part they need when they need it.

To learn more about Heritage Parts, visit HeritageParts.com.