Technologies for traceability and anti-counterfeiting

Project

Research and analysis of technologies to track products and components along the supply chain, guaranteeing originality and providing complete history

Customer

Small, Medium and Large Manufacturing Firms

Demand

Understanding existing technologies to track. trace and guarantee the originality of products and components: electronic (RFID, NFC, ...); marking systems; physico-chemical processes; mechanical.
Define the criteria for selecting the most suitable technology for the company's needs.
Compare the technological solutions available on the market and in development.
Define the key elements for the implementation of a traceability and anti-counterfeiting project.
Evaluate characteristics and potential of Blockchain technology.

Services

State of the art and Search for suppliers / skills Technology Scouting

Solution

Technology scouting aimed at defining and understanding the details of the technologies used in the processes of traceability and the in fight against counterfeiting.

The analysis allowed to define, through the study of the scientific literature on the subject, all the available technologies and to understand their technical details: functional principles, limits, applicability and development perspectives. The main actors involved in the production or diffusion of these technologies were then identified and evaluated through the analysis of databases (patent, scientific and other literature).

The software platforms available to ensure end-to-end traceability were also investigated.

A final study was dedicated to Blockchain technology.

The results of the activity allowed customers to understand existing technologies, to evaluate their characteristics and to select, with the support of CRIT, the most suitable solution for their application needs.

Description

With an estimated turnover of over € 6 billion in 2015, according to the assessment made by the Italian Patent and Trademark Office, the counterfeiting market is a reality that has a great impact on the entire Italian economy and on numerous key sectors of the manufacturing industry. The offer of counterfeit products not only impacts economically on the manufacturing companies, but also on the end customer due to the limited quality of the replicas sold.

In this context, it has become of great importance for companies to invest in efficient logistics and production solutions contrasting the replicability of products and allowing the monitoring of the each product’s entire life cycle. Numerous technological solutions have been developed, in different contexts, over the years. From RFID to laser markers, chemical tracers, DNA, inks, barcodes and datamatrix. Within this panorama, it is essential for each company to determine which technology, hardware and software, is the most suitable for its application.

The scouting activity allowed to deepen the salient aspects of these and other technologies used for the marking and traceability of components and products. The key aspects of each of them were studied in depth and a list of 100 suppliers of these solutions was defined, in order to define the landscape of the current market. The description of the basic operating principles and possible future developments of these technologies has made it possible to obtain the essential tools for the implementation of new projects focused on tracking one’s products and protecting one’s brand.

In addition, the software landscape was analyzed, defining the most important software platforms that could be used for end-to-end product traceability. Within this window, an in-depth analysis has been dedicated to blockchain technology, which is demonstrating its potential in the implementation of safe and reliable platforms, crossing the intrinsic limits of centralized software structures.