Hologram help

Hologram help

25 Oct 2007

As Europe launches a major crackdown on counterfeit car parts, Ian Lancaster of the International Hologram Manufacturers’ Association looks at how holograms are helping to win the battle

The war against counterfeit parts has been, and continues to be, one of the biggest waged by global automotive companies like Toyota, Ford, Daimler Chrysler, General Motors, and Jaguar among others.

Sophisticated quality reproductions of OEM and aftermarket parts have made it virtually impossible for even the most trained eye to distinguish the genuine from the fake.

Just last week, The European Association of Automotive Suppliers announced details of a major crackdown on the counterfeit parts trade.

No one knows exactly how much counterfeiting costs the industry but the US National Association of Manufacturers estimates it costs the US auto industry up to $15 billion a year.

Counterfeiting also endangers life as cheap imitation brake discs and pads are more often likely to fail - often in emergency situations.

According to the US Army Acquisition, Logistics & Technology magazine, 6,000 fatalities and 1.5 million accidents on US roads could be caused by defective automotive parts.

It was the emergence of high quality reprographic technology and the ability to reproduce top quality labels and packaging that heralded the development of security devices like holograms whose effects could not (and still cannot) be exactly replicated or simulated by normal reprographics methods.

The first products to feature holograms as an anti-counterfeit measure were MasterCard credit cards back in 1983, shortly followed by Visa. Three years later came Johnnie Walker Black Label scotch whisky being sold on the Thai market.

The ability of the hologram to provide effective OEM and aftermarket parts’ brand protection lies in the continuous innovation, invention and evolution in holographic techniques that have succeeded in creating layered devices that are easily recognised yet difficult to copy accurately.

Of course virtually anything can be copied and the holographic industry is working hard to get the message across that even the most sophisticated holograms can be reproduced to some extent.

The real debate – and one which we’re keen to in engage in with the automotive sector - is just how well can holograms be copied. The answer is not very well and this is where the real value of holograms should be appreciated.

The intrinsic features of holograms mean the techniques and visual effects make it difficult to accurately copy. The product and packaging they protect may have been counterfeited but a poorly copied hologram is often a sign that all is not what it seems.

So, with the proliferation of ever more complex anti-counterfeiting initiatives, any hologram authentication program needs proper management - and this must include investing in expert training to equip people with the requisite knowledge and capabilities to distinguish the real thing from fakes.

The combination of authentication with detection lies at the heart of holograms’ anti-counterfeiting role. The more enlightened manufacturers recognise the value of this and that is the reason why they are included as an integral part of modern anti-counterfeiting strategies

Moving forward, the ability of holograms to incorporate other data forms and product tracking information will become increasingly important. One example of this is image serialization, which may be visible to the naked eye when generated by overprinting or using an optical numbering method or it maybe covert and encrypted, requiring a special reading tool or machine to decipher it.

This enables holograms to be used for an ever widening range of automotive parts. In this way, the identity and distribution of goods can be controlled through a total system solution involving security authentication features, tracking mechanisms and investigative services.

The past 60 years has seen holograms demonstrate their ability to deter counterfeiting and play a vital role in protecting brands and corporate reputations. With advancements in technology and widening applications, there’s no reason why they should not continue to play a pivotal part in the automotive industry’s on-going battle to stay one step of ahead of the counterfeiters.

For more information on the International Hologram Manufacturers Association, go to www.ihma.org.

<< back