3 minute read
COVERT INK TECHNOLOGY
COUNTERING COUNTERFEITING
Dave Sandello, VerifyMe’s Director of Sales & Business Development
COUNTERING COUNTERFEITING
A Inew NX partnership offers a smart trackand-trace solution for packaging, labels and more with groundbreaking invisible ink technology, used in ink formulations for metal can decorating, ink-jet and other printing methods.
Today, counterfeit products are ubiquitous. They’re a significant and growing problem that impacts the security of just about every supply chain, as well as consumer safety and the balance sheet of many fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies. In the printing and packaging industries, the need exists for more sophisticated supply chain security technology that can provide authentication, serialization and track-and-trace functions to stay ahead of increasingly sophisticated product counterfeiters. Yet for every company with an established brand protection program and strategy, there are just as many companies that are ill-equipped to deal with counterfeiting. INX International and technology solutions provider VerifyMe, Inc., believe they have the answer. Based in Rochester N.Y., VerifyMe specializes in counterfeit prevention for brand protection, labels, packaging and products as well as customer engagement solutions that combine product smartphone authentication, track-andtrace, and customized engagement strategies. INX formed a partnership with VerifyMe in January 2019, whereby INX supplies conventional and ink-jet inks incorporating VerifyMe’s VerifyInkTM invisible ink marking technology to VerifyMe for resale to customers. The inks can be used for metal can decorating, dry offset printing, gravure shrink sleeves, and flexographic printing. The technology also includes serialization and track and trace software known as VerifyMe Track & Trace™ that allows both consumers and brand inspectors to verify authenticity with their smartphones. VerifyMe Track & Trace is the delivery method that can be implemented in various types of ink, including those for ink-jet printing, flexographic label and packaging or roll-fed presses. ENSURING PRODUCT SECURITY AND INTEGRITY
The INX collaboration will help many customers combat counterfeiting and market diversion, which is also a challenge because offenders constantly alter their strategies to avoid detection. Together, INX and VerifyMe are dedicated to providing smart packaging solutions and cuttingedge technologies – such as security inks – to support brand protection programs that protect brand reputations, the bottomline and customers. The collaboration began when VerifyMe was looking to expand its portfolio of print deposition methods. “VerifyMe needed an ink company with a global footprint and the ability to research, formulate and manufacture inks for all print mediums,” says Michael Brice, Vice President of Sales and Business Development for INX International Ink Co. Brice points out that metal bottle caps featuring VerifyMe’s VerifyInk invisible ink technology are already commercially available. In fact, VerifyMe and INX tested its jointly developed new ink technology with a major beverage brand owner seeking a deterrent to counterfeiting and brand protection issues. INX matched the ink used on the metal cap incorporating VerifyMe’s marking technology, and the beverage cap tested successfully, demonstrating proof of concept. DETECTION, DECODE AND AUTHENTICATE
VerifyMe’s multiple levels of protection include ultrasecure pigments and invisible inks developed by INX. The collaboration with INX provides customers with a much more secure pigment and a non-invasive, turnkey implementation. For track and trace applications, the inks work with VerifyMe’s proprietary, proprietary security pigment and patented detection devices, that are operated via cloud-based authentication. “The technology can combine both covert and overt codes that are either static or dynamic,” adds Brice. “The codes can be authenticated via patented devices, decoded and used with geo-location for trackand-trace on a secure cloud server. The pigment used in VerifyInk is inorganic, with great lightfastness, that illuminates at a particular wavelength. INX has formulated inks with this pigment for metal deco, rigid plastic, offset, piezoelectric inkjet, continuous ink-jet, ultraviolet (UV) flexo, solvent gravure and flexo. Product development is ongoing, depending on the brand owner and the application.” “Our invisible codes make it impossible for bad actors to destroy or replace these tracking codes,” says Keith Goldstein, Chief Operating Officer for VerifyMe. “By integrating our highly secure, Continued on next page 17
