In almost every market, and especially in markets such as pharmaceuticals, durable medical supplies, electrical components, semiconductors, and luxury goods, it's essential for manufacturers to be able to guarantee the authenticity and integrity of their products.

To protect both their revenues and their reputations, manufacturers need to be able to give themselves and law enforcement officials convenient, irrefutable means of distinguishing genuine products from counterfeits, and of detecting where in a distribution channel products are being stripped, diverted, or otherwise misused.

Furthermore, secure authentication capability has become a regulatory requirement in many industries.  Solutions being used to ensure regulatory compliance can also be used for industry control purposes.

MICRO SIZED CODING / TRACKING AND AUTHENTICATION

• Since 1982, the World Customs Organization and Interpol estimate that the global trade in illegitimate goods has increased from $5.5 billion to approximately $512 billion annually and continues to grow. Approximately 5%-7% of world trade is in counterfeit goods.
• The Food and Drug Administration estimates that 10% of all prescription drugs sold globally are counterfeit, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection estimates that 14% of drugs sold through the mail are counterfeit, mishandled, or expired.
• The FBI estimates that counterfeiting and piracy cost U.S. businesses between $200-$250 billion annually, as well as 750,000 jobs.  Those numbers are rapidly increasing.
• Per Senator Orrin G. Hatch (R-UT), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, "Perhaps most troubling is the widespread threat counterfeiting poses to public health and safety. Few Americans truly appreciate the significance, scope or consequences for this crime."

• Individual doses (pills, tablets, syringes, etc.) are being coded to provide lot and batch identification information.
• The ORBID 2DMI code is being applied to a label, package, or product so the location of the code remains unknown and there is no impact on product appearance --yet the item is individually identified.
• Electrical parts are being coded with the ORBID 2DMI UID to ensure product authentication and reduce liability resulting from counterfeit product failures.

• Representing false or exaggerated business opportunities to obtain special pricing resulting in diversion of products;
• The underreporting or misrepresenting of business activities to obtain program dollars;
• Disregarding contractual provisions of product’s use or selling to unqualified channel customers;
• Intentional supply chain and inventory mismanagement for incentive benefits.

• Pharmaceuticals sold into foreign markets are being repackaged and dispensed within the U.S. resulting in lower margins and potential quality issues through the loss of lot and batch information.  By marking each pill, tablet or vial, overtly or covertly, with lot and batch info, or even uniquely marking individual pills, integrity can be maintained and the source of diversion easily found and corrected.  The ORBID 2DMI mark can be applied to almost any substrate on the packaging or the pill itself, enabling authentication to take place anywhere in the distribution channel (even at the “point-of-care” or return and disposal).  By marking the individual pill, return fraud can be effectively managed by the manufacturer or wholesaler.
• A luxury goods maker used ORBID’s solution to covertly mark their products to manage diversion and support their brand protection strategy throughout their worldwide distribution channel. Over 4 million marks have been applied to their products to date.  Their anti-diversion efforts have identified specific grey market activities in their distribution channel. Once identified, the luxury goods brand owners were able to undertake contract enforcement and other corrective measures, dramatically reducing product diversion.

• A leading durable medical device manufacturer is using laser technology to apply the microscopic ORBID 2DMI mark on their surgical screws and plates, which are as small as a millimeter in diameter. The customer is responding to regulatory requirements to uniquely identify each device, enabling secure track-and-trace capability.

• ORBID helped a brewery establish an inventory control system that leveraged ORBID’s 2DMI mark for float control, deposit management, and quality control for their returnable container (keg) inventory.  The mark could be read on stainless steel (low contrast) and was damage resistant.