One product in the line of food-packaging machinery we manufactured used a large 12kW servo motor. It was very costly, and it was rated IP69 for use in this washdown environment. After a few years and some 30-plus motors in the field, we began to get warranty claims for failed motors. The motor manufacturer quickly identified water intrusion as the problem and cheerfully honored the warranty on the first two motors, but as more failures on these $10k motors came in, it became more reluctant to honor the warranty.
We examined the machine design, and the manufacturer's people also reviewed the application. We came up with no hint as to the cause. Then somebody at the motor manufacturer happened to notice, "Hey, these guys have bought almost 50 motors and drives from us but never bought a single cable. What's up with that?" It turns out that our local distributor of these motors and drives had a brother-in-law who was in the cable business. So every time we placed an order for motor, drive, and cables, the motor and drive order went to the manufacturer. The cable order, however, went to the brother-in-law.
Now a big motor like that is going to get hot, and since it's sealed IP69, it needs a vent. The motor manufacturer came up with a clever solution -- it ran a vent hose through one of the unused locations in the Cannon plug for the power cable and up into the cable some distance. This provided the necessary pressure equalization while protecting the vent hole from intrusion of water.
It turns out the brother-in-law's cables did not have this feature, which left the vent hole in the connector open. That was enough to allow it to suck in water when the hot motor was hit with colder water during the daily washdown. OK, so now we know the solution, but five years later, lawyers were still arguing over who pays for all of those bad motors, and the manufacturer no longer uses local distribution -- all sales are direct from the factory.
Our argument was that we placed the order for a complete package of equipment with the authorized distributor, and any problems arising out of how the distributor processed that order was between the distributor and the motor OEM. And furthermore, never having seen a "genuine" cable, how were we supposed to know that these were bogus cables, since they were delivered by the manufacturer's authorized distributor?
This entry was submitted by Kim Ground and edited by Rob Spiegel.
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Substitution is essentially an illegal "bait and switch" tactic. It still happens, especially with electronic assemblies like power supplies. Someone in China is making a killing selling look alikes.
You have just illustrated why some manufacturers specify, "Use only genuine XYZ parts." I agree with your attitude towards the computer manufacturer, but if the pump company referenced in this article had done that, the suspect cable could have never been used, or at the very least the blame could be properly placed.
I do not think the computer example is an unusual situation. It boggles my mind how many different cell phone chargers my family has accumulated over the years. New phone: new wall charger and new car charger. But on the other hand, I am not sure I would not do the same thing if I had control. Which of us would not want our customers to be repeat customers? In retrospect, as professionals, I think most of us would prefer that we win with superior service and performance rather than trickery. That is one of the many things that separate us from marketing and bean counters.
I have seen this venting method used also in submersible pumps, but without any connector involved. Usually the kind of pumps I am talking about are supplied with a power cord and molded on plug.
No one's mentioned the 'clever' use of a pin location in an electrical connector as a vent. Forgive my ignorance with this particular field. Was this documented in the data sheet for the motor? Is this a common technique to vent a sealed motor, or is this the first & only use of this technique anyone's seen? I'd consider these important questions to ask when attempting to assign blame.
A few years ago, my in-laws asked me to repair their desktop computer, from computer manufacturer 'Big D'. The power supply was dead, so I unplugged & removed it, replacing it with a generic replacement. Upon power up, the magic smoke was released from the motherboard *and* the new power supply. A trip to the internet then revealed that 'Big D' had elected to re-arrange the pins in the industry-standard motherboard main power supply connector on their motherboards and power supplies.
You can bet that I'll never buy another computer from 'Big D'. (Maybe this should be another 'Monkeys made ______' episode.)
The author explained earlier why selling the items as a kit is not really an option. If I was sitting on the jury I would say the fault lies with whoever bought and suppied the substandard cables if they were not to a spec. If they were labeled as being the proper cable, then the producer of the cable should be held at fault. The depth of pockets should never be an issue when replacing blame. Sometimes we buy things that do not perform, but to go back up the food chain to the biggest wallet is not only wrong, it is immoral.
I was involved in a dispute with a heat treat source in which he destroyed about $7500 worth of components. The order was given verbally and without any written proof to back me up, the heat treater said he did what I ordered. Fortunately, my boss believed my side of the story and I came out with my job intact and learned a valuable lesson called, "Get it in writing." I have never used that vendor as a source in any subsequent jobs and was eager to tell anyone who wanted to listen about my experience.
I agree, Kim, that the ability for a distributor to pony up when substitution of standard parts becomes a problem. And I would imagine there has to be a lot of this going around given the counterfeit parts coming from Asia. Yet even if the distributor has shallow pockets, chances are there may be some liability insurance to help deepen the pockets.
Yes, bearings are a big problem - at least the ones you received were obviously 'equivalents' and not what you ordered. I spent some time talking with an SKF sales rep on a plane one time, and was amazed at the efforts that they have to make to prevent counterfeiters from stealing their business and reputation.
Bearings were the first target of government level counterfeiting - first country C develops a machine tool industry and begins counterfeiting the components because they find that other brands sell better than their own (regardless of whether there is actually any quality difference). Then a decade or two later they are in the electronics business....
A few of these outfits who start out making 'knockoffs' or counterfeiting eventually go on to develop leading edge technology of their own, but that is rare. There is a difference between a knockoff and a counterfeit - a knockoff is readily identifiable as a copy. With a knockoff they steal your design but not your good name.
Since the motor was designed to need a special cable, the manufacturer should only sell/install them as a unit. They admitted their guilt when they got rid of distrubutors.
While I personally have never had a problem with items substituted @ the distributors' discretion, this article is definite testimony that there are numerous cases in business relations & law addressing this very situation. And, not being a licensed attorney, I can only add from the "cheap seats" that I hope the company who suffered the loss of production was able to seek some sort of compensatory relief. HEY! If people can sue McDONALDS for a hot cup of coffee and win, WHY couldn't this company get relief for something far more serious??
The one complaint I've had over the years is that legitimate, national components distributors will sometimes automatically substitute a specifically ordered part for an equivalent. For example, I've had situations where I've ordered a certain manufacturer's end mill from the distributor's catalog. Yet, when the order arrived, that end mill was substituted by another manufacturer. Now, in my case, it wasn't critical, BUT the point is still the point! IF I order Brand A, then I SHOULD receive Brand A, NOT Brand D!
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