Author: Andree Bourgeois

Authentix® Announces Acquisition of Security Print Solutions Limited

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

 

ADDISON, Texas, April 3, 2019 — Authentix, the authority in authentication and information services, announced that it has acquired Security Print Solutions Limited (“SPS”) through its United Kingdom based entity, Authentix Limited.

United Kingdom based SPS is an industry leader in providing high security print solutions to a broad base of global clientele. The company offers a highly diverse product portfolio including high security tax stamps and a host of security labels and other documents such as patented and multi-layered security technologies it deploys in its solutions. For over 30 years, SPS has been at the forefront of developing new and patented methods, combining innovation in print with new technologies and decades of craft.

“This strategic acquisition expands our portfolio of security technologies to grow our support in tax recovery programs for governments as well as increasing the scope of offerings for our brand protection clients,” stated Kevin McKenna, CEO of Authentix, adding “a key element of our growth plan includes integration of a high security printing operation into our organization and we can’t think of a higher quality candidate than SPS.”

SPS will remain a stand-alone operating entity retaining its respective brands, with a plan to integrate within the Authentix group of companies to grow a collective set of strategic offerings and leverage the sales platform extensively in the markets served.

About Security Print Solutions:

SPS is one of the world’s leading security print solution providers in the revenue recovery and brand protection domain. Originally the business produced tickets for major events and secure cheques. But over the years the business has increasingly focused on custom tailored secure documents (certificates and legal paperwork), brand protection, and tax & revenue protection solutions for governments in MEA.

About Authentix:

As the authority in authentication solutions, Authentix helps customers thrive in supply and distribution chain complexity. Authentix provides advanced authentication solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products, ensuring local economies grow, banknote security remains intact and commercial products have robust market opportunities. The Authentix partnership approach and proven sector expertise inspires proactive innovation, helping customers mitigate risks to promote revenue growth and gain competitive advantage.

Headquartered in Addison, Texas USA, Authentix, Inc. has offices in North America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa serving clients worldwide. For more information, visit https://www.authentix.com. Authentix® is a registered trademark of Authentix, Inc.

Media Contact:
Sonyett Bailey
Senior Director, Corporate Marketing
sonyett.bailey@authentix.com

Assuring Fuel Integrity from Pipeline to Pump

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

By Kevin McKenna, Chief Executive Officer, Authentix

Leveraging Data to Drive Actionable Insights

In a recent survey conducted by Oil & Gas IQ, over 200 downstream industry leaders were asked about the importance of supply chain fuel integrity in delivering on their brand promise. Not surprisingly, 76 percent of respondents said it was very important and 19 percent responded it was somewhat important. Despite the importance of this matter, only 26 percent of the respondents said that they had access to the required data to assure supply chain fuel integrity.

This lack of supply chain data and subsequent corrective and preventative actions exposes brand owners to the ubiquitous risk of fuel manipulation. Fuel manipulation can occur through negligence, system failures, or deliberate illicit acts. Regardless of the cause, when it occurs it can have damaging and lasting effects on consumer confidence and the integrity of branded products – resulting in lost revenue and competitive advantage.

View the full Fuel Quality Industry Report
The Looming Risks of Fuel Manipulation

Many think fuel manipulation isn’t happening in their country or market, or that it is happening at a scale that can be considered part of the cost of doing business, perhaps in the range of five percent of the volume of product sold. Our experience at Authentix is that the volume is typically much higher – in many cases more than 30 percent of the volume of product sold. Petroleum products present a lucrative opportunity for those who wish to deliberately manipulate fuel supplies for their illicit gain. Perpetuating the crime is a simple exercise of price arbitrage – obtain a product at a low price and sell it at a higher price. Lower prices can be obtained from outright theft, subsidized products, smuggling, lower grade products, or adulteration of products with solvents, waste oils, or any low-cost liquid criminals can obtain. This is big business that often goes undetected as represented in a 2017 Ernst & Young report that estimated the illicit fuel market to be $133 billion a year.

Minimize Risks with a Comprehensive Fuel Integrity Program

When a comprehensive fuel integrity program is deployed with sampling, testing, analysis and enforcement, our customers have been able to effectively stop fuel manipulation and achieve returns on investment in many cases of over 10 times. A key tool Authentix uses to combat fuel manipulation and facilitate the tracking and authentication of fuel products is the application of unique chemical markers coupled with proprietary analyzers to detect and measure the markers in the fuel. This lock and key combination of markers and analyzers facilitates the rapid and definitive authentication of products throughout the supply chain – enabling you to detect manipulation from multiple sources. To date, we have marked and protected over two trillion liters of petroleum products across the globe to identify and ameliorate issues such as grade swapping, product adulteration, or quality issues (e.g., incorrect additive dosing, water contamination, etc.).

Over the last few years, we have transformed our solutions to merge the physical authentication results from fuel sampling and testing with ubiquitous data sources (e.g., volume flows, pricing information, truck tracking, etc.) to aggregate and analyze data via the Authentix Information System (AXIS®). AXIS enables our customers to proactively operate their supply and distribution chains for competitive advantage. This transformation has been enabled and accelerated by four ongoing industry trends:

  • Increase in data collection, enabled by better connectivity and the Internet of Things (IoT)
  • Cheap computing power and cloud infrastructures available
  • Improved analysis algorithms and inexpensive machine learning software available
  • Excellent open-source software options for data science programming and analysis

Today we are leveraging cloud architecture, simplifying data collection solutions while accelerating adoption of additional IoT sensors, and investing in proprietary data solutions to increase our ability to provide actionable insights to our customers. AXIS delivers insightful data analytics to isolate anomalies, reveal opportunities for fraud, and identify trends in unauthorized product placement, so you can act to maintain the integrity of the supply chain. By extracting the full value of customer, market, and supply chain data, and combining that with the integrity and responsiveness of our people, our customers gain a significant competitive advantage.

Enabling our customers to thrive in today’s complex supply chains requires more than a chemical marker and a device for measurement. It requires nuanced sector expertise and the means to collect, aggregate, and analyze supply chain data from multiple sources. It requires collaborative partnerships to leverage the growing ecosystem of IoT applications and data sources to deploy solutions quickly, and then learn, adapt, and drive toward predictive analytic solutions built on the AXIS platform. All of this contributes to our vision of creating a world of confident commerce – consumers can be confident they are getting what they pay for, and brand owners are confident they are competing on a level playing field to deliver on their brand promise.

Download PDF Here

What Defines a Successful Fuel Authentication Solution

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

By Kristi Browne, Senior Vice President, Services, Oil & Gas, Authentix

Certain operational functions and services are essential for an end-to-end fuel authentication solution that helps you mitigate risks to maximize revenue and gain a competitive advantage.

Protecting your brand is critical to thriving in today’s complex supply and distribution chain. When your branded fuel leaves the terminal, you expect it to be of the highest quality and purity. You also expect the same of the fuel that is provided to your customers at the pump. But in the downstream fuel supply chain, there are many variables that can negatively impact fuel integrity – putting both your revenue and brand’s reputation at risk. Without the right tools and technology to detect manipulation, you can never really be sure if what you’re delivering to your consumers are what they are expecting.

Unfortunately, fuel manipulation is not uncommon as the oil and gas industry operates with increasingly complex supply chains. And it’s easy to lose control of complex systems. When fuel enters your supply chain, it moves through fuel terminals to wholesalers and retailers that may include franchisees, oil marketing companies, sub-distributors, carriers, open dealers, and independent store owners. Fuel manipulation can occur at any stage of that journey.

Fuel marking is a very effective way to protect your brand from manipulation. A successful fuel authentication solution identifies both intended manipulation and inadvertent quality problems at distribution terminals with the use of advanced fuel markers and analyzers. But taking a proactive approach and determining the right authentication solution to fit your specific organization’s needs can seem daunting. Where do you begin? Developing an in-house solution is likely not feasible due to the lack of necessary tools and expertise. So how do you find the right partner to help you defend your supply chain from fuel manipulation? The key is choosing a partner that intimately understands your industry and your challenges and can provide comprehensive services and support – from strategy to implementation and beyond.

Get advice from a pro

Because the downstream supply chain is so complex, a fuel authentication solution is not going to come “off the shelf.” That means you’re going to want to partner with an organization that listens to and understands your specific needs and can draw from experience in solving all fuel manipulation problems, even the most complex. This knowledge will allow them to define your problem, then establish goals for the best solution to solve it.

Choose some design wizards

When designing your fuel authentication solution, the partner you choose should have a large “toolkit” so that they can pick and choose which tools and technologies should be included in your solution. When they have a breadth of advanced options in both overt and covert marking and analyzer systems, a range of technology (without being “married” to any specific one), and the flexibility to make changes as circumstances change, odds are they will develop and implement a solution that works for you. Of course, needs differ from company to company. You may have an urgent need for a legally-defensible, lab-authentication-based fuel marker. Or you may need instantaneous field authentication. You might even need both. A good fuel authentication partner will provide you all the options that lead to a successful outcome.

Follow great planning with great implementation

It’s not unheard of for fuel authentication programs to look good on paper but fall well short in the real world so it’s vitally important that your authentication partner has a great track record in implementation. This includes executing the solution as designed, deploying the right technology and tools, training your field personnel as needed, and managing the implementation process from beginning to end.

Choose a partner that stays with you for the long haul

A great authentication partner is never going to put your solution in place, brush their hands off, and walk away. They’re going to stay by your side to provide operational support, measure results, perform periodic auditing, and assign a dedicated resource to oversee the program. They should be unequivocally invested in your success.

Expect data that you can act on

Your authentication partner should provide a robust information system that uses sophisticated data analytics and intelligent reporting capabilities to enable you to make informed decisions and take the proper corrective action to best address the fuel manipulation problem over time. Advanced technology and a sound strategy are essential to shutting out fuel manipulation. With the right fuel authentication partner, you can confidently protect your brand and product from the terminal to the pump.

Kristi Browne is Senior Vice President, Services, Oil & Gas, at Authentix, the authority in authentication solutions. Authentix helps you thrive in supply and distribution chain complexity by providing advanced authentication solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products. These solutions ensure that local economies grow, banknote security remains intact, and commercial products have robust market opportunities. Our partnership approach and proven sector expertise inspires proactive innovation, helping you mitigate risks to promote revenue growth and gain competitive advantage.

Downstream Fuel Manipulation: Protecting Your Brand

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

By Chad Crouch, Vice President, Authentix.

Fuel manipulation can have a major impact on your revenue and brand reputation (and you might not even know it’s occurring).

Fuel integrity is a key component of brand protection for oil and gas companies distributing fuel to its consumers. Unfortunately, fuel manipulation is a widespread problem that can severely undermine your brand. How big is the fuel manipulation problem? Ernst and Young estimates that stolen, adulterated and defrauded fuel contributes to $133 billion of losses each year.

Fuel manipulation can be notoriously difficult to detect in the supply chain, but when discovered, the magnitude of the problem can be enormous. In a U.S. court case, for example, a petroleum wholesaler was found guilty of diluting medium and premium grades of gasoline with regular unleaded fuel. The company also represented and sold non-branded, low-grade fuels as branded fuels. Executives at the wholesaler were found criminally guilty and the firm was fined 30 million USD.

Sometimes fuel manipulation is a criminal act, sometimes it’s accidental. Improper dosing or blending of additives into fuels at terminal and retail sites can be caused by equipment failure, human error, or negligence. When that happens, oil companies lose revenue and suffer brand erosion.

Do you feel confident that your branded fuel that leaves the terminal is the same quality as what reaches the retail site and is ultimately sold to consumers? Without the right tools and technology to detect manipulation, you can’t really be sure.

Brand degradation occurs when customers unknowingly purchase adulterated fuels that result in poor engine performance or mechanical problems with their vehicles or other equipment. This will often trigger complaints (directly or on social media) and can result in negative coverage in the news media. Any type of fuel manipulation, irrespective of whether it occurred knowingly or unknowingly, is an exposure that can result in consumer mistrust of your products and cause irreparable damage to your brand.

Environmental damage can be caused by fuels that have been under-additized, leading to greater vehicle emissions, and consequently, more air pollution due to the mixing of waste products or non-petroleum products with your branded fuel.

Damage fuel claims can be devastating for oil and gas companies. If the damage claim stems from a single station operator, damage to the brand can be quickly localized. However, if the source of the problem is broader in scope (i.e., a large retail chain, a route operator, or fuel distribution terminal), the effects of complaints and damage claims can quickly gain momentum, harming the brand’s reputation and running up significant operating costs.

You must defend your downstream supply chain.
The supply chain for an oil and gas company is becoming increasingly complex. The more complex, decentralized and variable the supply chain, the greater the risk of manipulation. When fuel enters your supply chain, it moves through fuel terminals to wholesalers and retailers that may include franchisees, oil marketing companies, sub-distributors, carriers, open dealers, and independent store owners. Fuel integrity can be compromised at any “link” in this complex supply and distribution chain.

The disparity in price between a differentiated or branded fuel and a lower-grade or non-branded fuel creates an enticing arbitrage opportunity that can result in fraud and illicit gain. For example, unethical operators can illegally dilute a high-price and high-value product with low-cost and lower-grade fuel and pocket the difference. Diluting premium fuels with regular fuels of the same brand can place an additional 10% of income in a perpetrator’s wallet, more if the diluent is an unbranded fuel. If the diluent is not fuel but is instead water or a waste product (i.e., used motor oil), the return could be as much as 100 percent.

You can be sure of fuel integrity with an advanced fuel authentication solution.
An effective fuel authentication solution illuminates the supply chain to identify the opportunistic, fraudulent or accidental manipulation of differentiated and branded fuels. This can be accomplished by incorporating covert chemical markers into refined petroleum products and utilizing analyzers to validate the authenticity.

Fuel marking is an extremely effective solution to enable your organization to defend against manipulation and achieve revenue targets for your branded and differentiated fuels. By understanding where you have been compromised in the supply chain, your organization can then take corrective action to prevent future manipulation and ensure your fuel’s authenticity in the long term.

Another benefit of a well-designed fuel authentication solution is its powerful deterrent effect. When fuel retailers know their stations are being randomly audited, and they know the range of penalties that other operators have incurred for diluting fuel, they tend to be much more resistant to temptation and the level of contract compliance increases dramatically. After all, no one wants to be the next case study for the effectiveness of the fuel authentication solution.

You can be your company’s brand protector.
If your company was a football/soccer team, you’d be the goalkeeper. Your team depends on you to protect what matters most. Every day you are protecting your downstream supply chain from unpredictable threats that range from terminal issues to intentional acts of fuel manipulation. If even one ball gets past you into the net, it can have devastating consequences—lost revenue, harm to the environment, and damage to your brand reputation.

Your customers trust you to deliver a quality product, and it is your job to deliver on that promise. With the right fuel authentication solution, you can confidently assure the integrity of your supply chain—from the terminal to the pump.

Chad Crouch is Vice President at Authentix, the authority in authentication solutions. Authentix helps you thrive in supply and distribution chain complexity by providing advanced authentication solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products. These solutions ensure that local economies grow, banknote security remains intact, and commercial products have robust market opportunities. Our partnership approach and proven sector expertise inspires proactive innovation, helping you mitigate risks to promote revenue growth and gain competitive advantage.

Download PDF Here

Case Study: Coral Gas Combats Illicit LPG Dilution

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

Authentix developed a fuel marking system that is the first of its kind to be adopted by an EU-member state.

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) is a Greek success story. In recent years, Greek consumers have increasingly switched to LPG, using it both as an automotive fuel and a heating fuel, due to its lower price compared to gasoline or oil. In fact, official Greek sales of LPG reached 215,000 metric tons last year, up from just 4,200 tons in 2009.

Coral Gas has played a major part in that success. Formerly known as Shell Gas S.A., Coral Gas S.A. operates as a subsidiary of Motor Oil Hellas Corinth Refineries SA. Through its four plants in Athens, Thessaloniki, Ioannina and Crete, Coral Gas has helped make LPG a big part of everyday life in Greece.

The Attack

With success came a significant problem. Coral Gas was experiencing product quality problems due to dilution. It appeared that LPG that did not originate from the fuel retailer’s depots was being diluted and sold through its network of retail stations. This illicit activity had a negative effect on the Coral Gas brand, as consumers were no longer able to depend on the integrity of the LPG fuel they were purchasing. Manipulated fuel like this can lead to premature engine wear and tear, leading to costly repairs. Of course, it also leads to erosion of consumer trust in the brand creating significant revenue loss.

Defense

To defeat the LPG dilution problem, Coral Gas has introduced a powerful new weapon—a molecular marker, that is added to its automotive LPG products. This advanced authentication solution was developed by Authentix, the sole global provider of quantitative LPG marking technology.

To deter illicit fuel manipulation and protect Coral Gas’ brand integrity, Authentix’s team of subject matter experts in technology, program design and fuel authentication program management, collaborated with Coral Gas to support their business goals. Authentix developed a proactive, innovative solution that utilizes chemical markers built to withstand adulteration and illicit filtering methods. Authentix also provides in-house services and support (advisory, design, implementation and operations).

In the advisory phase, vulnerabilities in Coral Gas’s supply chain were identified. Using this information, the Authentix team provided a design template using its covert markers and analyzers to customize the program to Coral Gas’ needs.

The Pilot Program

Launched at one retail location in 2017, the pilot phase included the addition of a proprietary Authentix covert marker to Coral Gas’ automotive LPG. Using patented technology validated in both the field and laboratory, the Authentix team added quantitative fluorescent markers to legitimate fuel and measured for dilution. These markers are detected using special, intrinsically-safe readers.

The marker creates a unique fingerprint to identify legitimate fuel at retail sites, and is only visible with a highly-sensitive field detection device. Quantitative measurements of the marked LPG were taken using an Authentix LPX 1000 device reader. The device uses a monochromator principle to detect the presence of the optical marker in the fuel.

The Full Roll-Out

On October 8, 2018, Coral Gas began using LPG markers to protect their branded automotive LPG at approximately 350 retail sites, 100 of which are company owned/operated, and 250 that are dealer owned/operated.

As part of the program, Coral Gas is performing unannounced checks at service stations to ensure the quality and quantity of LPG. In addition, a state-of-the-art electronic system ensures the quality of the gas, accuracy of the mass meter controls, and that the program is being operated correctly by each Coral Gas distributor.

The program is designed to further advance the already-stringent quality controls that Coral Gas has in place. “The application of this molecular tracer system is part of the ongoing commitment to our customers to deliver quality fuels with excellent specifications,” said Coral Gas CEO Panagiotis Charitopoulos. “At Coral Gas, there are no compromises on quality issues and very high standards are maintained throughout our fuel management process.”

This is the first LPG marking system implemented in Europe. Working with Authentix, Coral Gas has implemented an effective solution to ensure that, every day, Coral Gas customers receive the precise, high-quality LPG that their brand promises.

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Authentix Inc. Selected as 2018 Global Energy Awards Finalist

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

 

Winners to be Recognized at December 6 New York Gala

NEW YORK (October 29, 2018) – Energy companies from 37 countries have been selected as finalists for the S&P Global Platts Global Energy Awards. The 2018 finalists were announced by program host S&P Global Platts, the leading global provider of energy and commodities information and spot market benchmarks.

Authentix®, Inc., the authority in Authentication Solutions, is the sole provider of quantitative LPG marking technology in the world. Authentix partnered with Coral Gas Greece, to promise ensure brand protection of its Automotive Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) using an the Authentix Assure™ Fuel Authentication and Product Quality Assurance Solution. The solution was nominated under two categories, the Award of Excellence – Downstream and the Commercial Technology of the Year Award. Authentix has been named a finalist in both categories.

Established in 1999 and often described as “the Oscars of the energy industry,” Global Energy Awards highlight corporate and individual innovation, leadership and superior performance in 19 categories that span the entire energy complex.

Coral Gas wished to ensure a complete quality and quantity control of its product at retail stations. wThrough aith the collaboration collaborative partnershipand support of Authentix, we proceeded to bring this to the market- which is a European first and a significant innovation. Authentix Inc. has enabled Coral Gas Greece, to be the only company in the European Union which canto offer this level of assurity to its customers.

Hundreds of energy industry representatives are expected to attend the 2018 Global Energy Awards black-tie dinner gala in New York City on December 6. The awards program will be emceed by CNBC Reporter Jackie DeAngelis.

About Authentix Inc.: As the authority in authentication solutions, Authentix helps customers thrive in supply and distribution chain complexity. We provide advanced authentication solutions for governments, central banks and commercial products, ensuring local economies grow, banknote security remains intact and commercial products have robust market opportunities. Our partnership approach and proven sector expertise inspires proactive innovation, helping customers mitigate risks to promote revenue growth and gain competitive advantage.

Headquartered in Addison, Texas USA, Authentix, Inc. has offices in the US, UK, UAE, and Africa serving clients worldwide. For more information, email: info@authentix.com or visit our website: www.authentix.com

About S&P Global Platts: At S&P Global Platts, we provide the insights; you make better informed trading and business decisions with confidence. We’re the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. Customers in over 150 countries look to our expertise in news, pricing and analytics to deliver greater transparency and efficiency to markets. S&P Global Platts coverage includes oil and gas, power, petrochemicals, metals, agriculture and shipping.

S&P Global Platts is a division of S&P Global (NYSE: SPGI), which provides essential intelligence for individuals, companies and governments to make decisions with confidence. For more information, visit www.platts.com.

Media Contact:
Sonyett Bailey
Corporate Marketing Director, Authentix
Sonyett.Bailey@Authentix.com

Republic of Zambia seeing significant return on investment after beginning to enforce its fuel authentication program.

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

In recent years, the government of Zambia became aware they had a problem with illegal fuel dumping and/or adulteration. In fact, Zambia’s Energy Regulation Board (ERB) estimated that these activities were depriving the government of 81 million dollars USD per year in fuel tax revenue. To determine what fuel products were being manipulated, and where in the country the illicit activities were most rampant, the ERB implemented an ongoing fuel authentication program.

In February of this year, fuel from all government depots and certain national-oil-company depots intended for the Zambian domestic market were marked with a small quantity of a biochemical substance that acts as an identifiable “fingerprint” for the fuel. With more than six months of significant data from this authentication program, the ERB is initiating enforcement actions.

Baseline sampling and testing of Zambia’s fuel supply chain have answered the “what and where” questions about fuel manipulation that had previously eluded the ERB. They reveal that 1) there is a high incidence of tax avoidance through dilution of domestic fuel with unmarked products and/or kerosene; and 2) fuel manipulation is most prevalent along the country’s North/South transit corridor.

Based on these findings, the ERB has undertaken targeted enforcement actions. But they are also conducting continuous, impromptu sampling and testing of fuel at all filling stations, bulk fuel storage facilities, fuel tankers, and retail facilities for domestic consumption. The consumers of this fuel include mining and allied industries, construction, transport and logistics, general commerce, and the agricultural sector.

In addition, those who are suspected of conducting illegal fuel manipulation activities have been warned that the ERB working with Zambia Revenue Authority (ZRA), Zambia Environmental Management Agency (ZEMA), Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC), and the Zambia Police (ZP) are dealing firmly with fuel manipulators.

If an entity is found in possession of, selling, distributing, and/or transporting non-conforming petroleum products, ERB enforcement actions and penalties include license suspension or revocation, and the imposition of considerable fines and/or imprisonment (once convicted) for a period not exceeding two years.

The ERB and other cooperating government agencies are all enthusiastically undertaking appropriate enforcement actions to end fuel manipulation in Zambia. The ERB is optimistic that the effectiveness of the fuel authentication program will help ensure that fuel quality is guaranteed, and that maximum tax revenue can be realized from fuel sales in Zambia.

The impressive progress of the Zambian fuel authentication program is yet another example that fuel authentication programs such as theirs demonstrate a return on investment that is well-documented and compelling.

In addition, they provide other associated benefits—not the least of which is that they can help
governments ensure authentic products are sold in-country to benefit law abiding citizens – not criminals. Fuel marking solutions enable governments to collect more excise taxes without raising taxes for the benefit of citizens and legitimate industries

Board Names Kevin McKenna as Next CEO

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

ADDISON, Texas, May 24, 2018 – Authentix® announced today that Kevin McKenna will become its next President and Chief Executive Officer effective May 29, 2018. Kevin succeeds Bernard C. Bailey who will continue to serve Authentix as Chairman of the Board. McKenna joined the Company’s executive team in 2012 and has served in various capacities touching all Authentix markets as President of Oil and Gas as well as General Manager of the Brand and Currency and Tax Stamp businesses. He most recently served as the Chief Sales and Services Officer responsible for global sales and all customer engagements. He has been a key contributor to the successful growth and subsequent sale of Authentix to Blue Water Energy, a London-based private equity firm, in September 2017.
“For more than 20 years, Authentix has provided advanced solutions to combat illicit trade across the globe. It is a great honor to now lead Authentix in the next phase of our growth as we look to advance our world-class authentication solutions into new markets and next generation technologies,” said Kevin McKenna. “We have an exceptionally talented team at Authentix that is focused on unlocking future growth opportunities while being committed to our existing customers’ success. I am incredibly optimistic about our future.”

Prior to Authentix, McKenna held executive management roles within the information technology and security industries at HID Global and L-1 Identity Solutions. He began his career with IBM Global Services, serving in a variety of consulting and program management positions.

Bailey commented, “Kevin’s breadth of experience, coupled with his deep understanding of our global customers and markets make him a superb choice for leading Authentix moving forward. His vision, strategic insights and execution track record are exactly what Authentix needs as we enter into our next chapter, which I am confident will be even more impactful and exciting than our last.”

After earning his undergraduate degree in engineering from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, McKenna served as an officer in the U.S. Army as a helicopter pilot. He also holds an advanced degree in engineering from the University of Missouri at Rolla.
“I am honored to lead Authentix as CEO and advance our growth strategy into new geographic markets, market sectors, and next generation technologies,” said Kevin McKenna. “I would like to thank the board of directors, Blue Water Energy, and the Authentix employees for their confidence and trust. We have an exceptionally talented team at Authentix that is focused on unlocking future growth opportunities and committed to our customers’ success. I am incredibly optimistic about our future.”

About Authentix:
Authentix, a leading global authentication and information services company, assists customers in combating illicit trade and managing the integrity of their global supply chains. With comprehensive end-to-end authentication solutions we help safeguard customers in refined fuels (e.g., gasoline, diesel, lubes, and LPG) and branded products (e.g., pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and spirits industries) from counterfeiting, product theft, product diversion, and adulteration. In addition, we help protect currencies for many leading central banks.

Headquartered in Addison, Texas USA, Authentix, Inc. has offices in the US, UK, UAE, and Africa serving clients worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.authentix.com

Elevating Your Brand Protection Strategy with Multilayered Security Solutions

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

By: Jeff Conroy, Chief Scientist, Authentix

Many companies are thinking more broadly about how to implement coordinated anti-counterfeiting, anti-diversion strategies across their brands and throughout different regions of the world. Just as tamper-evident seals on bottles of pills and liquid formulations became more common due to a tampering scare in the 1980s, attitudes toward anti-counterfeiting technologies are beginning to evolve.

Once viewing such measures narrowly as an “extra feature” that only “added cost” to the bottom line, brand owners are beginning to realize the importance of protecting the integrity of their brands and the most important part of the equation: protecting the safety of consumers. As serialization technologies continue to evolve, the tracking of individual units through the supply chain could enable very secure and traceable evidence of authentic products being supplied by manufacturers and distributors to end users.

Different Features, Different Purpose

Anti-counterfeiting features that can authenticate products are both overt and covert, and they can be applied in numerous ways: on labels, onto closure seals, on cartons where containers of products are stored, into plastic parts of individual packaging, and even onto metal and glass components of packaging.

The different types of features all serve a different purpose, from enabling end users to quickly identify a branded product as genuine, to covert markings that enable a manufacturer or inspector to identify the source of diversion or other illicit activity. When combined with the careful design and production quality controls used in authentic product manufacturing, these features raise the bar of complexity for counterfeiters and make the product a less attractive target.

With that said, it’s worth considering the value of individual security features versus a multilayered approach.

Overt security features: Visible security features serve a valuable purpose in the authentication stack. They offer a way for individuals to inspect packaging without any specialized tools, and the specialized color-shifting inks (similar to those used on currency) are often difficult to reproduce using scanners or reprographic methods. There are other types of optically variable features as well, including holograms, micro-optics (like the blue stripe found on the current US $100 bill), and reflective features.

Visible security features are a starting point, but counterfeiters are extremely creative and clever. Even if a visible authentication feature is hard to recreate perfectly, a counterfeiter only needs to copy it closely enough to confuse a consumer who just gives a package a quick glance. Additional features create layers of security.

Covert security features: High security covert features can be embedded into labels, closure seals, or other features of product packaging. Although such markers are invisible to the naked eye, they can be detected using specialized handheld surface spectrophotometers. Field instruments use proprietary excitation and detection optics and detection algorithms for rapid, secure field authentication. Additional forensic layers of security are also embedded into the materials and can be confirmed through more extensive laboratory analysis. This additional layer of security proves very difficult for the counterfeiter, but easily verified by field inspectors.

Serialization: In the serialization process, a company marks individual units at the point of manufacture (giving each a unique serial number) and implements stations to read those markings, capture the tracking data, and drop that information into a managed database that allows authorized personnel to monitor where products go after they leave the manufacturing facility. You’re probably most familiar with this process as it applies to shipping a package overnight, when you can track it on the Internet until it reaches its destination.

An effective anti-counterfeiting solution contains multiple, layered components

As a brand owner, it’s good to have options. However, the counterfeiter also has options. Fortunately, technology continues to evolve to help you protect your end users. Today’s reality is that one level of security isn’t enough.

Recently a number of technologies have become available that offer the benefit of not having to add any additional features to the packaging, but the imaging requirements on the production lines can be quite demanding and difficult to implement at speed. Once captured, the identification of the package can take place with conventional cameras, allowing widespread authentication and tracking by inspectors, retailers, or even consumers.

Any combination of covert or overt features or serialization enhance your anti-counterfeiting, anti-diversion strategies. Click here to learn more about brand protection. You can also contact Authentix at info@authentix.com.

Inspector Led Authentication’s Contribution to Brand Protection Programs

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Author: Andree Bourgeois

By: Andrzej Hornostaj, VP Brand Solutions, Authentix

Identification of an at-risk product and implementing an authentication solution is not the end of the story, it is just the beginning. Constant inspection of the product in the supply chain and marketplace is required to ensure useful actionable insights is generated to minimize counterfeit and diversion practices while protecting your brand and bottom line.

Let’s Begin with Inspection Design

Inspection design is determined by the objectives of the inspection. Let’s consider two relevant approaches. Will the inspection be reactive to a specific counterfeit event, or proactive determining the scale of counterfeiting and generating actionable insights?

Ideally, inspections, like any investigation, should follow a holistic approach involving several stakeholder teams including product, brand protection, investigative, and legal. Each team has its own requirements for the actionable insights generated from an inspection. Some critical stakeholder questions may be as follows:

Product: What’s the scale and location of the counterfeiting problem for a product?

Brand protection: What’s the level of sophistication of the counterfeit operation (production and logistics)? Are security features being copied? Are packaging design changes required?

Investigative: Can the right data be gathered to support investigations into the counterfeit’s supply chain and to identify the manufacturing source? Is the evidence strong enough that it can be passed on to legal and law enforcement to perform raids and prosecutions?

Who will conduct the inspections?

The boots on the ground can either be members of the brand owner’s staff or third-party inspection agencies working on their behalf. Ideally, to infer useful insights from an inspection, the more data collected the better. This need pushes the brand toward engaging a third-party that can provide the coverage and inspector numbers to achieve data volume.

As always, inspector safety is paramount and consideration should be taken as to whether the inspector needs to be accompanied by law enforcement representatives.

Where to direct initial inspection efforts?

I would suggest initial efforts begin at the retail level where products of interest are typically more accessible to covert inspection. This type of insight helps to determine the scale or extent of the problem and generates a suitable baseline against which further inspections and remediation efforts may be compared. As pharmaceuticals are usually not accessible at pharmacies, other locations in the supply chain should be the initial focus.

Once a baseline is established, then testing of supply chain integrity should be performed. Keep in mind, some obstacles may be encountered at this stage as it is not always possible to accurately track the route by which products reach the end user beyond the first tier distributors.

To assist access / auditing of stock at distributors, brands should ensure that cooperation agreements allow for inspections with short notification times. This will prevent suspect items from being removed from the audit location by a guilty party.

Which inspection tools should be used?

Having the right tools during an inspection to automatically capture the data required for each stakeholder is important and ensures that repeat testing is minimised. With the right type of reader paired with a smart device, inspectors are equipped to not only identify counterfeit products, but also capture location data and photographs of the packaging. This complete picture of the scale and sophistication of the counterfeit operation can form the basis of effective enforcement actions.

Click here to learn more about brand protection. You can also contact Authentix at info@authentix.com.

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