Counterfeiting: An Omnipresent, Critical, and Yet Elusive Supply Chain Issue
From localized small-scale operations to full-blown global enterprises, counterfeiting activities have become a significant threat to contemporary supply chains. Here’s how counterfeit goods enter the supply chain today and five important suggestions on how to protect your supply chains from counterfeit goods.
Anyone who has ever been offered a $40 Rolex or a $25 Gucci handbag understands that counterfeit goods are as accessible as hot dog vendors on the streets of any big American city. The problem is so prevalent that there’s even a word for it: Fucci, which means fake Gucci.
Counterfeiting activities are no longer limited to easy-to-produce luxury branded consumer goods. Over the last few years, they have evolved from localized activities to a global phenomenon that requires cross-national countermeasures on an industrial scale, at times with dire consequences. Aside from economic detriment, consumer safety is also at risk as counterfeiting activities are encroaching across a wider range of safety-critical products such as pharmaceuticals, electronic components, medical devices, and automotive and aircraft parts that are critical to their safe operation. Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported on the largest confiscation of counterfeit medicines in history when customs officials in Luanda, Angola, uncovered 1.4 million packets of counterfeit Coartem, a drug used to treat malaria. Just two years ago, the New York Times reported that at least 20 people were killed and dozens of others were seriously injured in the Czech Republic from consuming bootleg rum, vodka, and other spirits they purchased on the cheap at street kiosks. Laced with methanol to make the product stretch farther, the bottles bore fake labels from Czech liquor makers to fool the public.
Counterfeiting is not limited to Eastern Europe and emerging markets. In the United States, a recent report on counterfeit seizures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicates that critical technology components, electronic articles, batteries, and transportation parts now join the rank of top ten categories of counterfeit and piracy products seized by CBP in 2011.
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Anyone who has ever been offered a $40 Rolex or a $25 Gucci handbag understands that counterfeit goods are as accessible as hot dog vendors on the streets of any big American city. The problem is so prevalent that there’s even a word for it: Fucci, which means fake Gucci.
Counterfeiting activities are no longer limited to easy-to-produce luxury branded consumer goods. Over the last few years, they have evolved from localized activities to a global phenomenon that requires cross-national countermeasures on an industrial scale, at times with dire consequences. Aside from economic detriment, consumer safety is also at risk as counterfeiting activities are encroaching across a wider range of safety-critical products such as pharmaceuticals, electronic components, medical devices, and automotive and aircraft parts that are critical to their safe operation. Recently, The Wall Street Journal reported on the largest confiscation of counterfeit medicines in history when customs officials in Luanda, Angola, uncovered 1.4 million packets of counterfeit Coartem, a drug used to treat malaria. Just two years ago, the New York Times reported that at least 20 people were killed and dozens of others were seriously injured in the Czech Republic from consuming bootleg rum, vodka, and other spirits they purchased on the cheap at street kiosks. Laced with methanol to make the product stretch farther, the bottles bore fake labels from Czech liquor makers to fool the public.
Counterfeiting is not limited to Eastern Europe and emerging markets. In the United States, a recent report on counterfeit seizures released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicates that critical technology components, electronic articles, batteries, and transportation parts now join the rank of top ten categories of counterfeit and piracy products seized by CBP in 2011.
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