right to repair
| by Austin Gamble
In the April 2014 issue of aBr, we discussed the fascinating and “revolutionary” concept of the Bosch organisation in China looking at providing automotive parts
to OEM franchise dealers for older cars outside of warranty, and to providing brand specific parts, diagnostic equipment, training and education to selected OEM
franchise dealers, as if they were Bosch accredited workshops.
What is a Genuine Part?
I have put the word “revolutionary” in quotation marks because the industry is not used to the cart going before
the horse. There has always been a gulf between OEM franchised dealers and the automotive aftermarket,
based on the line put forward by OEMs that genuine parts are only those parts in the OEM branded box, and that
anything else is non-genuine, or even that much abused term, horror of horrors, pirate parts.
A
nyone who has been in the
automotive aftermarket industry for
any length of time would of course
laugh at this, because it is well known
that OEMs are effectively assemblers, and
that practically all the parts which go into
a vehicle, particularly for mass produced
cars, are supplied by the very component
manufacturers who are accused of being
pirate part purveyors.
And in the modern information age, this
fact is now being disseminated via the
myriad digital communication channels.
So the towel has been thrown into the ring,
with great vigour, and the Bosch scenario
in China will soon be replicated across the
world.
My mind goes back to the 1970’s when
OEMs had a significant percentage of
“captive” parts, where mark-ups were
dictated not by market forces, but by
government legislation.
And when this legislation fell away, and the
competitive environment started to change,
OEMs fought back by strongly defending
their proprietary rights, with particular
emphasis on part numbers.
But now, the whole thing has been
turned upside down, and there are even
cases where aftermarket companies are
complaining that OEM’s are now using their
part numbers!
The winds of change are indeed blowing,
and this has long been foreseen by industry
stalwarts such as Giel Steyn, who
assisted aBr with a series of article on
this very subject in 2009.
These articles were so prescient, that
we reprinted these in 2011 and 2013,
and the time may just be ripe to revisit
these articles one more time, so that we
can participate in the subject’s curtain
call.
Giel Steyn bemoaned the fact that many
in our industry, and many in positions of
authority and influence, were not up to
date with trends and terminology, and
he went to great lengths to elucidate
and educate on the concepts of
technology, quality, safety and value
for money, and very importantly, he
gave definitive answers on the meaning
of original, genuine, counterfeit,
substandard, inferior and pirate parts.
We will reprise Giel’s thoughts in the
coming months, with a few variations on
the theme, but as an appeti ser, we will
once again refer to Jim Wade’s article in
the August 2005 edition of qw, whereby
he bemoans the use of words that are
bandied about by quality professionals
when discussing quality.
Phrases such as “exceeding customer
satisfaction”, “fit for purpose”,
“conforming to requirements”, “worldclass”, “zero defects”, “right first time,
every time” all sound wonderful, but
they set Jim’s teeth on edge, because
they are all in effect meaningless.
| words in action
54
may 2014
As Jim Wade says,
in any organisation,
at any one time, quality is
precisely defined by the
organisation’s current
measurable objectives
.
And this is exactly what is now currently
happening in today’s automotive
aftermarket, with the OEM’s playing catch
up with the previously demonised “pirates”.
To end this particular article (and don’t
worry, we are going to give you much
more in the future), let us use Giel Steyn’s
favourite quote,
It is an immutable law in
business that words are words,
explanations are explanations,
promises are promises – but only
performance is reality
.