It's A Knockoff World
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, it's said. But try to tell that to Johan Buitendach at Bumbo (Pty) Ltd manufacturer whose killer new product design has been ripped off by someone.
This "someone" is a knockoff manufacturer, someone who didn't spend months or years and hundreds of thousands of dollars inventing the new product, someone who didn't agonize over achieving just the right mix of performance, features and price, and someone who didn't take any of the risks. This "someone" is a thief.
Eight years ago, when one manufacturer http://www.bumbo.co.za brought out a product that became popular, competitors would rush to bring out their own versions. However, these companies would attempt to improve upon the original product; to increase performance, add worthwhile features, correct small shortcomings in the original design and offer a better product.
"Sometimes the other manufacturers would try to provide a similar product at a slightly lower price. But it was extremely rare for anyone to risk simply copying a product" said Donald Pillai - Bumbo International Marketing Executive.
http://www.bumbo.co.za/2006/09/bumbo-baby-sitter-donates-2000-bumbo.html
This model product the Bumbo Baby Sitter has served the parents and caregivers well over the years all over the world, although it has not always been kind to the innovator Johan Buitendach. Johan's efforts and ingenuity has consistently resulted in better and more reliable products, major strides forward in quality, new ways of doing things and lower prices. And skilful people and companies have made money the old fashioned way; they've earned it.
"But now blatant rip-offs of successful products have become a major problem. These are direct copies of products, designed to mimic the original product in almost every detail, often cleverly packaged and promoted is such a way as to deliberately confuse potential buyers" said Donald. http://www.bumbo.co.za/2006/10/why-should-you-only-buy-official-bumbo.html
In many cases, the actual design is virtually a direct copy of the original, with a few key corners cut. And, of course, these products are always cheaper, a bargain that is presented as being "just as good" as the real thing.
Unless you are a manufacturer, or work for one, why should you care?
Aside from the obvious ethical issues, there are many very good reasons. First, a good many of the products being ripped off are developed by North American companies, and those doing the ripping off are headquartered elsewhere.
These entities don't hire your neighbours to design, build, and test or sell their products. In fact, they may cost your friends and neighbours their jobs. They pay little or no taxes to support schools, hospitals, police and fire departments, or repair roads. They don't buy their parts and supplies in your area.
And they will never improve the industry; never make a better working product, never contribute anything to the industry. They will simply prey on those who do.
Still not impressed? After all, you get all the "features" of the original product, and at a lower price. Or do you? Features are not performance. Features are not quality, in fact, most features are cheaper to implement if you don't worry about how the equipment actually works. And features are not reliability, durability and long -term dependability.
There is also the question as to where all those savings actually came from. Certainly labour costs are much lower in many parts of the world as compared to North America, especially in certain countries where convict labour is widely used. But automated manufacturing can make up a great deal of the difference. And transportation costs, tariffs, taxes and various other costs further narrow the gap.
"This means that most of the savings must come from somewhere else. Reducing component quality is one of the easiest ways of cutting cost. Wide tolerance, cheap materials cost much less than quality materials, especially if the quality materials come from North America or Europe. Reliable quality materials and production processes are expensive, locally manufactured substitutes will be cheaper but their useful life will likely be far shorter" said Donald Pillai.
http://www.bumbo.co.za/2007/01/south-africas-first-new-7-wonders.html
As an example, in America, a copy of the Bumbo baby Sitter is widely available. Quality ranges from average to extremely poor, and the price range is similarly wide. Cheap materials usually have short lives and high failure rates, and can cause a wide variety of performance problems. However, if cost absolutely must be reduced, which grade of material would you suppose will be used?
And if a piece of equipment does fail, can you get it fixed? Warranties tend to be short and once a unit is out of warranty, service might not even be available. Often this means that the equipment has to be tossed. Technical support is generally extremely poor or nonexistent.
In fact, it is not uncommon for desperate owners of knockoff products to call the manufacturer of the original product for support, adding insult to injury. Good technical support and service are expensive; eliminating them can mean substantial savings.
And engineering is even more expensive. Engineering quality products is not easy or simple, and the process is time consuming. Just defining a successful product is often quite difficult and few companies routinely get it right on the first pass.
As a result, somewhere between eight and 20 percent of the cost of a high-tech product goes to pay for engineering. What a huge savings if a company just steals someone else's design and avoids all those nasty costs!
Not having a good engineering staff will inevitably compromise product performance, reliability and quality. Inexperienced junior engineers frequently make small changes - with big consequences. Lack of an experienced engineering staff can also cause the opposite problem. One of this author's more interesting experiences at a high-end wireless company was to see mistakes and schematic errors faithfully copied by the knockoff artist.
Why don't manufacturers take legal action to stop the rip-offs? A few larger companies do. Unfortunately, however, almost all of the knockoff manufacturers are in countries that refuse to protect the intellectual property of other countries.
International lawsuits are difficult, expensive and time consuming. And even if successful, there may be no compensation for legal costs or damages. In those few cases where there is an award, the amount is usually trivial in comparison to what the offender has gained, hardly a deterrent.
The real solution to the problem is in the hands of the people who specify and purchase the Bumbo Baby Products. Until they resist buying knockoffs, both because it's the right thing to do and because it is in their own self-interest, the problem is likely to continue.
"Consumers suffer when look-alike products create confusion. It's important that consumers looking for our products are confident the products they buy actually originate from Bumbo Brand www.bumbo.co.za and provide the quality and benefits they seek. Therefore, we are asking the court to stop this conduct," Donald Pillai added. http://www.bumbo.co.za/2006/09/bumbo-baby-sitter-donates-2000-bumbo.html
Donald Pillai – International Marketing Executive Bumbo (Pty) Ltd;
Director GNCCI Chamber of Commerce and Industries;
Governor TüV Rheinland Quality Services (Pty) Ltd (South Africa);
Judge Stevie International Awards;
Owner Aura Motivation;
Chief Visionary Officer Islices Innovations;
Member Apprentice Doctor;
Delegate International Media Forum
National Champion South Africa New 7 Wonders
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