The side effect is that seemingly good quality products can be rendered useless by small repairs that cannot easily be made.
I have been thinking about the compatibility of products with other brands since my wife exuberantly told me about her Eco Tanka water bottles lid being able to be replaced by a standard Coca Cola bottle lid, instead of having to go back to the manufacturer for their custom lid replacement.
From water bottles my thoughts drifted to bike parts, power tools around the house, appliances and office equipment. My broad conclusion based on nothing but recollection is that consumer product companies are on a path of designing parts that can only be used with their brand of products instead of making standard sizes and fittings that are interchangeable between brands.
Manufacturers now push OEM parts (Original Equipment Manufacturer) rather than copycat parts made by other companies specifically for that make and model. Think phone chargers, power tool batteries, car parts, etc.
The impact of this is that it is more difficult and often more expensive to fix something. We recently had to find a replacement drawer for a four year old Electrolux fridge. After diligent online searches we discovered this would be expensive and require international shipping. In days past, compatibility between brands may have provided a simple and inexpensive local product which allowed for an easy fix. The side effect is that seemingly good quality products can be rendered useless by small repairs that cannot easily be made.
Parts for repairs are often supported by manufacturers but only for a limited time, sometimes coinciding with warranty periods. New models are marketed rather than repairing perfectly robust existing models.
This is also the case with software. People are upgrading phones that work well (to make a phone call the luddite in me says) because their favourite app is no longer fully functional on an older phone.
The momentum towards brand specificity and away from interbrand compatibility is a concerning trend that favours a throw away society in place of purchasing durable items.
The momentum towards brand specificity and away from interbrand compatibility is a concerning trend that favours a throw away society in place of purchasing durable items. An issue that seems difficult to resolve other than by regulation to make certain items be designed to certain specifications.
In the waste collection industry even the plastic pins that hold wheelie bin lids on are customised to each brand. With a product life of often over 10 years, frequent repairs due to damage, only a few brands available in the market and an existing Australian Standard for wheelie bin design, this would be a good example of regulating for standard lid pins that can be used across all brands to make repairs straightforward and the life of the bin maximised.
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