Brief Explanation
Simply put, OEM’s (original equipment manufacturer) are manufacturers that produce goods for companies who don’t already have their own production line or, rather, source varying products and parts to different manufacturers; OEM parts differ from genuine parts and aftermarket parts.
Story Explanation
I’ll give an example to explain how you will typically get in contact with these different parts. I’ll use a mountain bike from Giant to illustrate. You take your bike out to the local trails every weekend, getting your exercise and thrill on the mountain. On this week’s trip, you get caught behind someone new on the trail, and slows your pace down for a moment. You decide to pass them and attempt something you haven’t done before. As naturally as possible, you jump out in front of them, consequently losing control of your handlebars on a root and crash your bike into a moderate sized maple tree damaging your bike and self confidence. You need to replace several different parts, oddly enough your saddle is one of them. Here is where your next saddle could come from.
OEM Parts: Saddles that are made to the exact specifications that Giant sets, they are not made in Giant production factories however. These are saddles that a manufacturer produces for Giant and other bike brands. These saddles will not carry the Giant logo or any other logo. What this means for you is that these saddles will be the exact same as one’s you would purchase from a Giant dealer or their website, but they will not have the same brand or logo anywhere on them, or maybe could even have another brand on them. Because it does not carry the Giant logo they will typically be cheaper.
Genuine Parts: Saddles that are the exact same as the set produced by the OEM except they will have the Giant brand or logo on them. This saddle can only have Giant’s colors, shapes, and designs. What this means for you is this seat carries the added value that a Giant logo has and will typically be more expensive.
Aftermarket Parts: Saddles that are not the specifications of Giant and do not carry their brand; these will carry the brand of a company that specializes in custom seats. Customizations may include heavily-padded foam seats, or the carbon-framed lightweight materials, customizations are endless. What this means for you is the chance to add a personal touch to your bike. Depending on what customizations you want, the prices will vary.
What It Means For You
If you are interested in starting up a business and selling products, OEM factories will produce exactly what you want them to. There are varying options for you in deciding what products you want. You can use designs contained in their catalogs and request them to put your logo on it, or you can self-design a product and request them to make it. This adds a lot of freedom to you in terms of the products that you want to sell.
But let's say you’ve been riding bikes for a while, the customizations you make to your bikes allow you to be more nimble and other people really admire these qualities. However, the bike doesn’t quite fit your riding style and, in fact, other people also describe similar issues with you as well. You decide to design a bike and this is what happens for you: You look for an OEM, get samples, test samples, adjust specifications, get more samples, test it out, ride perfectly, start production. Stories like this happen on websites like Kickstarter frequently. If they can do it, so can you.
Contact us today to start working with your own OEM today!
