[Jeff Niceswanger]

For 8 years I made Aftermarket parts ,let me give you a little info.When I worked for United Technologies, I worked in a department that made the Ford Starter Solenoids ( the Black ones mounted on the inner fenders back then).We made 8800 of them a shift. There were 125 people working in that department. 120 women assemblers, 2 Maintenance men, and 3 Material Handlers. We had two lines running down through the department. One was a Ford line,the other the " Aftermarket " line. They were identical,sort of. All the new equipment, as it came in,was put on the Ford line.Then the used Ford pieces got taken over and put on the aftermarket line. The "test sets" that tested the finished parts were allowed to be set to a little lower standard on the aftermarket line. Not that we were suppose to be doing that, but we could get away with it . Ford kept too close a watch on us, All the rejected washers,plungers,coils, and springs etc and such that were unusable were taken off the Ford lines and put over on the aftermarket line.They would be ok to be used and would pass through the test sets, but for whatever reason they were inferior when compared to the Quality Control Print. Might just be a cosmetic thing.There IS a difference in the parts, but you can't tell it by the surface.They look identical, but their not