3765 Investment Lane, Riviera Beach, FL 33404 • Phone: 561-721-2799 • Fax: 561-721-2798 • Email: primemolding@aol.com
PRESS RELEASE
8/12/2009
Prime Molding Technologies, Inc a Plastic Injection Molder located in West Palm Beach Florida adds taggants and tracer technology to resins to give customers 100% traceability, brand protection and product authentication to prevent against counterfeiting.
The FBI estimates that over 7% of goods sold worldwide are counterfeit, which costs branded-property owners approximately $650 billion annually. According to the US government, this number is on the rise because it is as lucrative as illegal drugs but much less risky. This is becoming the preferred method of funding for organized crime and for terrorist groups in many parts of the world, notably Hizbullah in Lebanon and al-Qaeda.
Taggants are microscopic multicolored particles that are added to master batches. Invisible to the eye, the particle size ranges from less than 20 to 600 microns. Originally the technology was developed by 3M to track explosives. Over 37 million color codes can be developed from combinations of eight colors and other chemicals. Each formulation has a unique number value, so proprietary code sequences can be developed for each customer. The Taggant acts like a fingerprint in establishing product authenticity. Identification characteristics can be made more complex by adding nanoparticles to the structure, plus special, elemental, or infrared materials, each of which emits a particular signature when scanned. Taggants typically add $0.05 to $0.06/lb to the price of resin compounds. Taggants as well as Tracers are FDA approved.
Tracers are not as sophisticated as taggants in composition, but they provide a high degree of protection which is difficult and hard to duplicate. Authentication mechanisms include a scanner or UV light picking up evidence of the particles in an application (a “yes/no” response); the use of phosphors and other materials that are visible under UV light; optical pigments and dyes that reflect more light when viewed with a spectrophotometer than a product with the same without them; and lab analysis that confirms the type of chemical in use and its concentration within a given area of compound.
Tracers are not as expensive as taggants, generally adding $0.01 or less to the cost of a pound of material. Like taggants, they do not affect the properties, performance, or processability of compounds. Both types of additives can be used with most thermoplastics, both transparent and opaque.
Simple to detect but difficult to duplicate are the key advantages of either technologies. A simple scanning device to determine authenticity costs less than $500 and can be used in the field. For a demonstration and more information on how your products can be protected contact Mike Bentz at Primemolding Technologies, Inc. (561) 723-4255. |
