Hydrocarbon Processing - July 2022 - 12

Business Trends
In another incident, an end user sent a control valve to an
unauthorized repair facility for refurbishment. The valve was
repaired, returned to the site and placed into service (FIG. 4).
Upon startup, the valve immediately began leaking and forced
the plant to shut down again to address the problem. Upon investigation,
the plant determined that the shop had replaced
the actuator shaft assembly with a non-OEM part that was not
dimensionally correct and kept the control valve from fully closing,
creating the leaks noticed at startup. Ultimately, the plant
incurred an additional 24 hr of unexpected downtime due to
minuscule savings on a part that could have been purchased
from the OEM for $200 from stock at a nearby warehouse.
Steam desuperheaters are a critical application in many
FIG. 4. An unauthorized valve repair shop decided to replace the
actuator shaft assembly with a reverse engineered version (right).
The non-OEM part dimensions were incorrect and kept the valve
from fully closing, forcing an additional 24 hr of unplanned downtime.
Source: Emerson.
lifecycle, so does every part. In some cases, the part remains the
same throughout its lifecycle; in many other instances, the part
is upgraded throughout its lifecycle, sometimes more than once.
An upgraded part may be quite different from the original
part used in the original valve because it has often been redesigned
to perform better and/or last longer than the original.
When an OEM part is purchased, the user is taking advantage
of this expertise and obtaining a part that reflects the most upto-date
knowledge available.
Another benefit of buying OEM parts is the opportunity
to benefit from a vendor's extensive application and domain
expertise. Process changes occur often, subjecting valve components
to more difficult conditions than were originally considered
in the original purchase. If a part fails prematurely, the
OEM has the expertise to evaluate the part, determine why it
failed and possibly offer an upgraded part better suited to the
new conditions and requirements. Replicators will simply offer
their best efforts at a duplicate (but not exact) replacement,
which is destined to fail again soon.
Another valuable service provided by OEMs is the ability to
quickly provide stocked parts anywhere in the world. In many
cases, the part can be delivered within hours, with upgraded
parts supplied as a matter of course.
The wages of non-OEM parts are serious incidents. Innumerable
examples exist where non-OEM electronic, piping
and valve components found their way into plants and caused
serious damage and lost production. A few recent examples are
detailed here.
A massive fire in India's Hazira gas plant forced the immediate
shutdown of the plant's 30-MMm3
d capacity, blocked production
from several gas fields, and curtailed 40% of a downstream
user's supply. The cause of the fire was traced to a set of
non-OEM gaskets and O-rings installed in a gas meter during
refurbishment. The meter was returned to service and the meter
seals failed shortly thereafter, sparking the blaze that forced
the large gas processing plant out of production.
12 JULY 2022 | HydrocarbonProcessing.com
BOB BOYLE is Vice President of the Fisher Parts Business
Unit at Emerson. Prior to joining Emerson, he spent 20 yr
with Deere & Co. in a variety of roles related to aftermarket,
precision agriculture, business strategy and M&A. Mr. Boyle
holds a BS degree in management from the University of
Maryland, and an MBA and an MS degree in finance from
Loyola University Maryland.
combined-cycle power stations, with downstream equipment
and piping dependent on their performance to avoid significant
damage. After an extended time in service, a set of desuperheaters
was removed and sent to an authorized repair facility for refurbishment,
with the plant purchasing the repair components
and providing them to the service center.
The repair facility examined the non-OEM parts and noticed
significant differences in the design. Further investigation
revealed that the plant had purchased the " OEM " parts
from a non-OEM supplier, and the replacement components
were actually substandard. There is no way to know how these
parts would have performed, but any deviation could have easily
damaged downstream piping, warped boiler tubes and cost
hundreds of thousands of dollars in equipment and downtime.
The plant was unwilling to take the risk, so the non-OEM parts
were returned and replaced with OEM parts, and the repaired
desuperheaters were returned to service without incident.
Takeaways. The case studies presented here are just a small
sample of the thousands of cases of non-OEM valve components
encountered daily in industrial plants and facilities worldwide.
Valve bodies have failed, internal seal components have
quickly deteriorated, and control valves have leaked both internally
and externally-all due to the use of non-OEM parts.
Eliminating this problem has become increasingly difficult
because suppliers of substandard parts have stepped up their
game. Non-OEM parts are no longer so easily recognized, with
these parts packaged, priced and sold into non-OEM supply
channels and marketed as authentic OEM parts. Despite their
near identical appearance, these types of components are still
likely to underperform, resulting in significant costs in terms of
downtime, equipment damage and personnel hazards.
A repair savings of a few hundred dollars can easily result in
an unplanned loss and equipment damage worth hundreds of
thousands of dollars. Is that deal worth the risk? Certainly not
when the results can include extended downtime, associated
economic loss, equipment damage, environmental incidents,
injury to personnel, civil lawsuits, increased insurance rates and
long-lasting damage to a company's brand and reputation.
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