Counterfeit Bearings - Read the facts about this growing problem

Do you know where your bearings are coming from?

Read the facts about the growing problem of bearing counterfeiting

Buying your bearings, or other engineering products, through an unauthorised distributor can be a risky business. Illegal bearing manufacturers are at work, often deploying devious techniques to fool end-users and OEM’s into buying fake bearings.

Some counterfeit bearings look so much like the real thing that only a trained technician can tell them apart. However, the poor quality of counterfeit bearings – and the risk they pose to equipment – can sometimes be revealed after just hours of use.

Tactics employed include:

• Low-quality bearings labelled with false brand markings and put into imitation packaging, often indistinguishable from the real thing.
• Used bearings being re-manufactured and then sold without any indication of remanufacturing
• Old bearings are cleaned, polished ad supplied without the buyer being informed of how old the bearings are.

Thanks to todays sophisticated graphics technologies, unscrupulous manufacturers worldwide can produce very good copies of SKF product boxes, increasing the odds that their counterfeit bearings will slip into legitimate industrial distribution channels.

What trouble can counterfeit bearings cause?

Counterfeit bearings can degrade and fail very quickly, even catastrophically, bringing a plant’s production and profits to a grinding halt. The results could include a expensive damage to capital equipment, or injury to machine operators and other plant personnel.

How widespread is the problem?

In the past, counterfeit manufacturing was most prevalent in emerging markets. Today, the practice is occurring in places where such activity was once quite rare. The fact of the matter is, counterfeit bearings are now appearing virtually everywhere along the global supply chain.

Despite the perception that smaller, easier-to-copy bearings for automotive or consumer product applications dominate, large-size bearing counterfeits are increasingly common in the industrial aftermarket.

What is SKF doing to tackle the issue?

SKF, the world’s leading bearing manufacturer, is taking a no-tolerance approach to counterfeiting by working hard to keep counterfeiters away from the market. SKF is actively assisting law enforcement authorities in taking action against this illegal activity and SKF products are now equipped with a special anti-counterfeit marking which trained SKF personnel are able to recognise.

What can you do?

Make sure you are protected

Given the extremely high ‘look-alike’ quality of today’s counterfeit products, it is extremely difficult for most people to tell a real SKF product from a fake.

So how do you protecting yourself from fraudulent purchases?

Never source your SKF bearings, or bearings from any premium manufacturer, through unauthorised distribution channels.

Acorn Industrial Services Ltd is an official authorised SKF distributor.