Find out about the role adhesives play in the production of tamper-resistant labels and the ways in which these labels enhance product value and safety.
By Kim Hensley
The United States Customs and Border Protection unit revealed that consumer electronics, computers, and hardware were among the top ten most counterfeited products sold in the U.S. in 2010. Similarly, the European Commission estimates interception of approximately €1 billion (or $1.4 billion) worth of counterfeit goods that year.
In many instances, durable-goods manufacturers experience huge losses and tarnished product integrity because of counterfeiters stealing their nameplate labels and placing them on counterfeit products that infiltrate their markets. This widespread proliferation of counterfeits and cheap knock-offs is a source of concern to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) who are continuously seeking ways to preserve the integrity and reliability of their products and brands and secure their customers’ trust.
Manufacturers spend millions on a yearly basis on anti-counterfeiting measures to combat this issue. More specifically, durable-goods manufacturers task converters and printers with finding and recommending high-performance nameplate-security labeling to address their concerns.
Nameplate labels play more than an aesthetic function on end products such as power tools, washers and dryers, recreational tools, lawn and garden equipment, chemical drums, and more (Figure 1). Manufacturers rely on nameplate labels to communicate pertinent information to end users; therefore, labels must not only stick permanently to the end product, but the information conveyed must also remain legible throughout the product’s lifetime.
In recent years, nameplate-label offerings have expanded, giving converters, printers, and manufacturers even more options. Trends such as variable-data printing have increased the demand for labels to look like metal nameplates, which in turn has increased the demand for bright, matte, and brushed-silver stocks that accommodate variable-data printing. However, void nameplates have proven to be the major trend in the industry for tackling counterfeiting.
Void labels leave behind a tamper-evident message when removed from original application surfaces (Figure 2). Void labels, when tinkered with cannot be reused, which gives manufacturers the confidence to launch their products to market without the fear or risk of counterfeiting.
Some OEMs are taking this trend a step further by customizing their void labels. When removed from the application surface, instead of featuring the traditional void imaging, the residual message displays the printed information that was originally on the nameplate or other, predetermined, information. By doing this, counterfeiters are prevented from using original nameplate labels on their sub-standard products, while pertinent information remains on the original product.
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