Major international bus and coach OEM Scania is focusing on the genuine parts side of its business, with the brand reminding operators to consider a variety of replacement service and repair parts packages.
Scania Australia national parts logistics and inventory manager Matt Pol understands that many operators look at both genuine and non-genuine Scania parts. With a long career in the heavy vehicle aftermarket, he says that you end up getting what you pay for with parts.
“There’s no logical, coherent case for a truck or bus operator to buy the cheapest non-genuine replacement part,” Pol says.
“Nobody buying the cheapest part expects it to last as long as a genuine replacement part. They don’t expect it to perform as well or better than the genuine part. They’re just looking for a short-term low-cost solution to a problem.”
Pol says that operators need to “connect the dots” to determine how much money a cheap part can cost when it fails and leaves operators with a potentially unroadworthy vehicle.
“What is the cost of a defect notice because a cheap bulb has failed or a brake part has worn prematurely? What is the cost of a late delivery or a day off the road because a cheap chassis part fails in service?” he says.
“You really do have to factor these costs into any decision to go for the cheapest available part. The economics of replacement parts is fairly straightforward – the cheap ones are designed to look like they can do the job, but they can’t possibly compete with a genuine part in terms of material quality, precision machining, assembly, quality control or durability.
“Quality control and ensuring the replacement part is as good as new is the guiding aim of the Scania parts department when we are sourcing replacement parts. After all, it is our name on the part.”
It’s this thinking that is motivating Scania to run a genuine parts campaign that will draw attention to the value of Scania’s original parts.
While many in Australasia’s bus and coach industry use non-genuine parts, Pol is hoping this campaign will lead to more debate over the total value of using these cheaper bus parts.
“Why would you risk your business reputation with your customers for the sake of a small cash saving on a reproduction part when you can have the genuine article?” Pol says.
“In many cases, also, the genuine Scania replacement part is competitively priced against non-genuine replacements and can be fitted at a Scania workshop by our company-trained technicians, which means owner drivers can spend their weekends relaxing rather than fixing.
“It doesn’t cost as much as you think to keep your Scania 100 per cent Scania, but it might cost you a whole lot more when a cheap replacement part lets you down. Who wants the phone call from a driver in the middle of the night saying he has broken down miles from help?
“It’s just not worth the risk.”