The genuine article: How to tackle product counterfeiting

Michael Birchler, Netstal, explains how systems provider Netstal is helping tackle the growing problem of counterfeiting.

Product counterfeiting is a serious problem for industry and consumers alike.  As system provider, Netstal has tackled this problem and together with its partners, says it is able to offer its customers reliable and inexpensive solutions. At this year's K Trade Fair, Netstal will demonstrate these solutions with the help of the first ever 128-cavity pipette tip production line.

"According to an Ernst & Young study, approximately 80% of all companies globally are affected by the counterfeiting of merchandise," said Dr Patrick Blessing, head of Netstal's Medical Technology and Precision Parts business unit. Statistics published by the European Union show that around 36 million counterfeit products are being confiscated annually by the customs authorities of member countries.  At the same time, reports are on the rise about significant harm caused by the consumption or use of counterfeit brand-name products. The risk potential nowadays is great and continues to rise. However, counterfeit products do not just pose serious risks to people, animals and the environment. In the worst-case scenario, brands affected by counterfeiting can suffer from a loss of image that cannot be fixed in the short term. Therefore, companies are increasingly looking for ways to label their products as absolutely forgery-proof in order to optimally protect themselves and the consumers of their products from harm.

Plastic products can be counterfeited fairly easily. Basically, all it takes is an injection moulding machine and a copied mould acquired from a dubious source. 

"Therefore, Netstal will also provide solutions to this problem – very much in accordance with our systems approach. By using smart tools, it is possible to add both visible and invisible markings to products during the injection moulding process," Blessing explained.

In particular, the appropriate devices can electronically detect markings invisible to the human eye – easily and inexpensively. For example, thanks to an integrated testing process, a laboratory machine can determine whether it has been stocked with original consumable materials or not.  The work of customs agents is also greatly facilitated by the ability to clearly and quickly identify counterfeit products.  Whether on food packaging, clothes, electronic components or consumable articles in the medical industry, there are countless areas of application in which such markings are a sensible and increasingly important new feature.

Solutions that provide protection

Together with the Swiss company U-Nica, Netstal will demonstrate this technology for the production of pipette tips at this year's K Trade Fair. 

"As part of a demonstration, individual pipette tips will be equipped with visible holograms, which significantly increases their protection against forgeries," emphasised Blessing. The Intragram technology developed by U-Nica features nanostructures and can be integrated into new or existing molds with little effort. In the end, each pipette tip gets a visible hologram in the same place, which allows for an identification without any technical aids – similar to a banknote. And since the hologram is embedded in the product, it cannot be removed and is easily distinguishable from holograms pasted on at a later point.

An additional anti-counterfeiting tool is the Spectrotag technology that is invisible to the human eye. Here, a so-called masterbatch is mixed into the plastic granulate.

"The masterbatch contains special additives that become visible as a pattern of dots when examined with light featuring a certain wavelength," explained Dr Blessing.  With a small magnifying glass with integrated light, a simple test at the trade fair booth will determine if it is an original pipette tip or a forgery.  In industrial applications, the authentication check can be done fully automatically with state-of-the-art picture processing technology.

The first 128-cavity pipette tip production line

In order to get the world's first production line of pipette tips with 128 cavities up and running, Netstal partnered with two other companies nearly 18 months ago. In what is currently the world's only mould with 128 cavities from Tanner Formenbau, the pipette tips will be produced with a cycle time of 5.6 seconds, which corresponds to a daily output of around 2 million units. Despite this huge production volume, it is important to bear in mind that the pipette tip is a piece of medical technology and an extremely delicate component with a wall thickness of 0.38 mm and a part weight of just 0.26 g that is only possible with the tightest of production tolerances. The high precision-controlled process of the all-electric Elion 2800 injection moulding machine from Netstal ensures that the shot weight of 33.28 g is distributed in equal parts across the 16 clusters with 8 cavities each. The very high process consistency of the injection molding machine assures equally high parts quality in continuous operation.

"Our automation solution does not require a larger setup area than a comparable 64-cavity system. That means that manufacturers of pipette tips are able to double their productivity while using the same amount of space," emphasized Andreas Schmid, CEO of Zubler Handling. A composite removal gripper made of carbon and aluminum removes the 128 pipette tips during a moud open time of less than 0.9 seconds. The presence of each individual part is checked at the same time. The pipette tips then directly and separately (according to cavity) go onto the tray.

“To ensure the high quality of the sensitive product, there is no reaching into the collar at any time and the outlet opening of the pipette tip also remains untouched,” remarked Schmid.

Although the complete automation solution has a very compact construction, the space available on the exhibition area would still be exceeded. For this reason, the subsequent tasks – such as filter configuration, quality control with industrial cameras and automated packaging – will be demonstrated via installed monitors. Systems completed at any earlier stage, which meet the high removal performance and have passed the strict qualification process, can be called upon for this. Such productions have already been realised in Germany, Switzerland and the US.

Collaboration with partners

Together with specialized partners from the fields of mold making, robotics and automation, Netstal develops customised production systems for its customers. This offers customers numerous success factors that result from cooperation with Netstal. Access to an independent partner network guarantees the best possible customer solution and provides maximum flexibility in the selection of system components. On-site system integration and commissioning is especially efficient and requires a minimal coordination effort. A complex system solution ultimately always comprises subsystems of different manufacturers that must still function seamlessly with one another. That is why it is also strategically advantageous for the user if there is a contact person available in After-Sales Service for the complete system.