Brand Security Secrets

Counterfeiting is big business. From fake luxury goods and software to bootleg medicine and automobile spare parts, brand theft represents a $600 billion-a-year underground industry.

The problem has grown more than 10,000% globally in the past two decades (up from just $5.5 billion in 1982), according to the International Anticounterfeiting Coalition, www.iacc.org. Up to 7% of the world's trade is in counterfeit goods.

In the U.S., counterfeiting costs businesses $200 billion to $250 billion annually and is responsible for the loss of more than 750,000 American jobs, according to the IACC.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration estimates that counterfeits account for 10% of all the drugs sold in this country. Today's sophisticated white-collar criminals are capable of producing illegal, copy-cat pharmaceutical products in a manner that makes authentication much more difficult.

Enter secrets2: high-tech security printing and embossing to fend off product pirates. A special folding carton was jointly developed late last year by Heidelberg and Papierwerk Landshut Mittler (PLM), one of Germany's leading packaging manufacturers with about 80% of its production for the pharmaceuticals industry. Printed on a Speedmaster CD 102 sheetfed press, the 8¼×2×1´´ prototype box features 10 “secret” effects that brand stealers will have a difficult time duplicating.

Using specific printing processes, embossing, changes to diecutting tools, and special colors and coatings, PLM can apply a range of features to a folding carton: micro-lettering, hologram embossing and coin-reactive ink, for example.

The concealed-image technology, enhanced by Heidelberg in conjunction with Saueressig Security International (SSI), was used for the first time on the demo package. Enclosed was a penlight to detect fluorescent imprints of laser-sensitive ink from Siegwerk Ink Packaging.

Special software helps to produce moiré effects on the cyan or magenta plate in prepress. When printed, these patterns are invisible to the human eye. The hidden images become visible only when viewed with a frequency-adapted decoder (about the shape and size of a check card). This plastic card is an optical lens that needs to be held at the correct angle and with the correct screening. (Also see GAM FrontLine, Jan. 07, p.12.)

Each customer can be allocated its own individualized screen, and it's possible to superimpose several different screens for enhanced security. Executable on Printmaster and Speedmaster presses, Heidelberg says this cost-effective method can be used to produce security features and surface finishings as part of a single manufacturing process.

The next phase offers hidden raised images embossed onto preprinted materials. The embossing, too, carries invisible information readable with a decoder. SSI and Heidelberg are combining their patented technologies to develop an inline embossing unit positioned as the last press unit.

The Speedmaster XL 105 will serve as the platform for this technology. Hidden graphics are applied with an embossing cylinder or by sleeves, resulting in a product that offers the double security of printed and embossed elements. The process allows security features to be integrated into the printing—without influencing the packaging design. Heidelberg plans to offer a training course on the new product at its Print Media Academy (www.print-media-academy.com).