Why OEM Parts Are Better Than Aftermarket Parts in the Paper Packaging Industry

Imagine for a moment that one of your packaging production machines just experienced a breakdown. You’ve had the machine for a while and tried your best to take care of it, but wear and tear from normal use over time have finally caught up to one of its parts. It’s busted beyond recovery, so now you’re on the hunt for a replacement to get your line up and running again as soon as possible. You know the name of the part and its model number, so you give it a quick Google search and are confronted with a choice: Do you opt for a cheaper, aftermarket replacement, or do you shell out more cash for a reliable, though harder to obtain part with the Original Equipment Manufacturer’s (OEM) stamp of approval on it?

This is a dilemma manufacturers all across the world encounter at one point or another. Eventually, even the best preventative maintenance schedule won’t be able to stop one of your machines from breaking, and it’s natural to wonder if you can save money or increase efficiency with an aftermarket part. With the year the manufacturing industry had in 2024, and the unstable economic forces influencing the beginning of 2025, it’s a question more and more manufacturers are beginning to ask. In the face of shrinking margins, just what is it okay to sacrifice to preserve your operation?

The answer should never be the quality of your product. Yet that’s exactly what you’re doing when you trust your production line to untested, lower-quality parts just to save a few hundred dollars.

By definition, an aftermarket part is any part manufactured by a company other than the company that made your original machine. Aftermarket parts are often defined by their low price points. Additionally, it may be easier to acquire aftermarket parts, especially if your machine is very old and the equipment manufacturer is no longer actively producing OEM parts for your model.

Aftermarket parts often come as a “one-size-fits-all” solution, with parts generally designed to fit multiple machines within a specific type of equipment. This is why the parts are often cheaper and easier to obtain. They also come in more varieties than OEM parts because of this. This can make finding the correct part for your specific piece of equipment and needs more tricky.

We get it. Cheap parts are very appealing, especially with how the past year has been for the industry. But just because something is cheaper and more widely available, doesn’t mean its better. 2025 is the year of direct-to-consumer with trends starting last year beginning to see larger expansions. Packaging matters much more than it did a few years ago as consumers are beginning to see it as part of the product experience. Consumers have high expectations for what they receive from companies they purchase from. As a manufacturer, it’s your job to provide the best packaging solutions to help put the product’s best foot forward. In other words, now is not the time to skimp out on packaging production and assembly parts. 

Additionally, the adage “you get what you pay for” is extremely true in this industry. If you opt to buy a cheaper part, you get a cheaper part in the worst sense of the word. Mass-manufactured parts meant to fit in a multitude of machines may keep your machine running in the short term, but will likely not be able to hold up as long as an OEM part under the pressure of a speedy production line. Plus, you may find yourself making changing to your line to accommodate the new part, some of which may make the process less efficient.

On the other hand, with OEM parts, you get guaranteed support because the part was made for your machine specifically. As mentioned earlier, many of these parts also come with warranties and some manufacturers like BW Papersystems are willing to help you install it and get your line set up efficiently. 

We can’t stress this enough: OEM parts are made for your specific machine. That doesn’t just mean they fit better either. These parts were concepted, engineered, and tested to specifically perform a given function within the circumstances created by your machine. OEM parts are often the best versions of a part because they were built to be that way. As a result, they produce the most efficient results.

For example, BW Papersystems’ Web Fed Platen Die Cutters are designed without gripper margins. This allows you to use more paperboard when manufacturing packaging and produce less waste, reducing the cost spent per packaging item produced. This specific innovation came from BW Papersystems and is not something you’ll likely find in aftermarket parts. Additionally, many BW machines are created to take up less floor space and require fewer operators.

In the best case, using certain aftermarket parts on some of these machines will produce less efficient results, costing you profits from longer production times. In the worst case, aftermarket parts may not even function within some of these machines because they have smaller footprints. This could lead to more stoppages and breakages.

Another important facet of running a successful manufacturing line is safety standards. Any accidents could cause you to shut down the line, delaying production quotas. Additionally, you may be held liable for serious injuries, costing the company further in legal fees and potential monetary damages or settlements. But above all else, an unsafe environment endangers your most valuable asset as a company: Your team. 

You may not consider picking between OEM or aftermarket parts a matter of safety, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Part of the design and engineering process that went into building your machine (all parts included) is adhering to rigorous safety standards. OEM parts have been tested under a number of conditions to ensure the safe operation of the machine and that all of your equipment meets safety regulations. 

By necessity, aftermarket parts cannot guarantee the same level of safety. They need to be mass-produced and able to fit into multiple types of machines to turn a profit while charging much less than OEMs. Those parts most likely have not been rigorously tested in your specific machine to ensure safety standards are met. So, when you buy and use aftermarket parts, you are also compromising the safety of your production line with equipment pieces operating at lower safety standards.

As a decades-long industry leader in the paper converting industry, we’ve created a number of innovations that can be found specifically within our lineup of paper packaging equipment and solutions. Our parts have been engineered to deliberately boost efficiency and production speed while eliminating waste and unneeded additional manpower. We’ve spent many years developing and testing our parts so that they each serve a very specific purpose. But most importantly, they’re all designed to offer maximum efficiency while also adhering to strict safety standards. 

BW Papersystem offers warranties on all of our OEM parts, along with personalized support to ensure your machine and production line is running smoothly. We’ll even help train your staff how to use the machine if you need additional assistance. It’s all because we’ve always believed that our clients deserve much more than just a machine. They deserve a partner invested in their success. 

In the end, ordering OEM parts from us is also a pretty good deal for your total earnings. Our efficiency improvements and equipment troubleshooting and maintenance assistance help you do what you do best longer. With increased uptime and better cost returns per produced product, you’ll save way more money than you spend choosing BW Papersystems OEM parts.

BW Papersystems stands behind our parts. Each and every part we ship to our customers is backed by warranties and always-ready customer support to help improve your production efficiency and save costs. We’ve spent decades making our machines more compact, efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective just for you. There’s a reason our machines are the gold standard in the industry. They’re specially designed and expertly engineered to make you a packaging superstar. That’s also why it’s so important to get your replacement parts from BW Papersystems itself, because you only deserve the best.