- published: 01 Apr 2015
- views: 3994
An original equipment manufacturer, or OEM, manufactures products or components that are purchased by a company and retailed under that purchasing company's brand name. OEM refers to the company that originally manufactured the product. When referring to automotive parts, OEM designates a replacement part made by the manufacturer of the original part. In this usage, OEM means "original equipment from manufacturer".
OEM may refer to a company that purchases for use in its own products a component made by a second company. Under this definition, if Apple purchases optical drives from Toshiba to put in its computers, Apple is the OEM, and Toshiba would classify the transaction as an "OEM sale".
An even more confusing, contradictory definition is a company that sells the product of a second company under its own brand name.
Instead of OEM, companies may label themselves resellers.
Companies who buy parts and then resell those parts with some amount of additional value added along the way (such as assembly, customer support, or continued maintenance) may be better termed value-added resellers (VARs) or resellers.