Chris Nappi, Assistant Parts Manager at Muller Martini North America, claims OEM parts synchronise better with the device and are superior in terms of ‘endurance’ and ‘electronics’.
Writing for MyPRINTResource.com, the executive said that aftermarket components are “generically designed” to fit a number of different machines types, and so create “more risks for machine breakdown”. He cited the example of belts, which are “made of specific material in order to alleviate stressors the belts were engineered to endure”, saying that third-party options not made of the exact material “may cause slippage and timing errors”. Nappi said “costs in […] downtime and lost productivity” offset the $10 (€8.96) typically saved by using remanufactured parts.
He also claims OEM parts also “work seamlessly” with the other original elements of the machine, while aftermarket parts “can impair the sync and performance” of the other parts it is connected to, “resulting in serious damage, including blown motors”.
Nappi also raised the issue of electronic parts. He said that as modern machines use Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC) to “automate electromechanical processes” you need the specific “proprietary, customised functionality software and parameter settings” for the individual machine, which only the OEM can provide. Nappi contends that “if you think you’re getting an identically engineered aftermarket electronics part, think again”.
Further “bottom-line” issues where the OEMs are said by Nappi to be superior are: endurance, as the “higher quality” originals will “last longer”; wear and tear, as the OEM option, though slightly more costly “in the short-term, will deliver “consistently better-performing machine” later; and research and development, as OEMs constantly work to improve their products, and so offer “replacement policies and upgrade kits”, while the aftermarket vendor “has no interest in your machine’s future – or that of your company”.
He also mentioned the issue of warranty, claiming that “if you choose an aftermarket part, you risk voiding your machine’s warranty”. The Recycler recently reported on a UK health authority that was issuing labels on printers effectively excluding remanufactured cartridges because of the warranty being endangered. A remanufacturer advised the authority that OEM warranty statements do not exclude aftermarket cartridges.
Nappi concluded that using an aftermarket part on an installed machine “achieves just one overriding objective: the lowest price”.