Tegger <tegger@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:Xns9923CE64CF111tegger@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> "jrk" <BC80009mm@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
> news:4637afa4$0$3579$815e3792@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>>
>>
>>
>> For what its worth, I've been told that after market body parts are
>> not made to exactly match the OEM parts by design. Something about
>> patents and such.
>
>
>
> Nah, it's just that the aftermarket simply does not have the budget to
> engineer the molds and dies the way Honda did. The appeal of
> aftermarket direct-replacement is economy, not quality. They have to
> find ways of making the parts cheaper than OEM, and that means cutting
> all the corners they can.
>
> Their materials are cheaper as well. Quality control is much laxer in
> the aftermarket. They simply can't afford to throw away all the
> production that the OEMs do.
>
> The aftermarket does not have access to the OEM engineering CAD files
> and blueprints, which are heavily guarded and protected. They have to
> get hold of actual examples of the parts, then work backwards to
> obtain their own specs. This is a terribly inaccurate way of
> engineering a part, especially something as large and floppy as a
> bumper skin. And then they're only going to spend so long welding up
> and grinding down the molds, since that takes time and money, so...
>
> I've been involved in the OEM process. The detailed engineering of OEM
> parts is astoundingly expensive, exhaustingly intricate, and is only
> justifiable in huge production quantities. Low-volume OEM parts are
> developed the same way as high-volume OEM ones, but with a price that
> reflects the small amortization base.
>
> Remember, Honda made hundreds of thousands of bumpers. The aftermarket
> makes a few thousand. Big, BIG difference.
>
>
>
Actually,some other company probably makes the bumpers FOR Honda under
contract.
Honda buys lots of parts from local sources.Cats,exhaust parts,sensors,...
that's how they keep the US domestic content high enough to qualify as US-
made.
No reason why they can't make extra bumpers and sell them thru their own
distribution networks.
--
Jim Yanik
jyanik
at
kua.net
|
