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ALL TOGETHER NOW
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It was ironic that the first topic to be tackled by our panellists should be the problems of spurious parts and product liability,not least in the event of a component failure that could end up being investigated by VOSA. For on the same day as we held our annual roundtable CM received a press release from Michelin announcing it was taking legal action against tyre dealers in Europe and the UK for selling 'look-alike' truck tyres from Asia that copy its tread patterns, including its XDY design.
Jost GB boss Roy Taylor reported that in a bid to get a clearer handle on the problem of dropped trailers, the coupling and equipment manufacturer had conducted its own on-line operator survey prior to the recent NEC show. "It's something dear to our hearts" he said, before adding,"Just because it's got that badge on it,VOSA or the Policeman assumes it's a Jost product. One of our biggest problems is that it does say Jost on the fifth wheel, it's dropped a trailer and everybody wants to know why. But when we strip it, and examine it a lot of the times we find a spurious part."
Taylor warmed to his theme. Over the past six months vve've sent out letters to various importers and supply people regarding spurious parts for jaw mechanisms." Jost has also taken specific action to block the import of cheaper look-a-like' parts of inferior quality although Taylor noted somewhat wistfully that the attitude to fitting non-genuine parts in Germany was very different to that in the UK.
"In Germany they wouldn't even dream of using something spurious," confirmed Bernard Clancy, sales manager (axles and aftermarket) for lialdex. "There's very little copying or spurious product attacking us in Germany. I put it down to the fact that the guy handling the product is disciplined, is a trained mechanic, knows the consequences of what's he's doing and fitting something that's not fit for purpose. That's where the quality standard starts."
Dan Edwards, regional sales manager (UK) for trailer products at ArvinMeritor reported that: "if I was a fleet engineer and one of my trailers was involved in an incident, and a spurious part was found to be at fault, I'd be worried about how much help I'd get from the supplier —and whether my 0-licence would be at risk. For many years we encountered parts suppliers offering a spurious remanufactured DX195 disc brake caliper. We didn't sell the internal parts, so all of these units on the market weren't genuine. Several national fleets tried some to see how effective the part was (many failed within the first six-months of fitting). I was asked to strip and review one example, the brake eccentric cam had been replaced with a part that didn't match the original —consequently the brake didn't work as originally intended, nor would it be acceptable to VOSA.We now offer \_ a re-manufactured caliper, where the price between the genuine part sold through our distributors and the spurious unit is negligible,"
FITTER CERTIFICATION
With product liability on the agenda it was inevitable that technician competence would also be raised and Clancy duly obliged."There's another difference in Germany. Their mechanics are trained and certificated. In this country we allow vehicles to be maintained 111. by ti me-served' operatives with no certification whatsoever, and there's a need to still push I know the 1RTE is doing it for proper certification of mechanics over here."
Gary Bulley, MD of Bullwell Trailer Solutions (sister company of FP&S) felt there is a strong need for on-going training and development of mechanics but asked:" How many people actually go back and check their qualification trail?" That struck a clear chord with GE/T1P's regional technical engineer Kevin Baker:"We do now-we definitely check a guy's qualification when they come on board. There are a lot of people out there who haven't got a single paper to their name."
While there ARE a lot of good mechanics out in the industry, confirmed Clancy, "There's no regulation. nor standard." The message from the CM panel was to cheek, check and check again when taking on new staff. "When we put advertisements out," said Baker, "they come in and say 'we've worked on trailers for a long time' -but when you drill down it could be caravans!"
"If a guy comes for a job with us they get a practical skills test, before we even consider carrying on with an interview, added Bulley. "We'll bring a trailer in and we'll put 12-14 faults on it and they'll have to carry out a practical exam on-site."
Darren Weeks, MD of FP&S Parts had no doubt that when it came to product liability: 10.