Counterfeit products are gradually rising owing to rapid globalization, the explosion of e-commerce channels, and multinational commercial activities. This is creating massive challenges in the legitimate supply chain because of the increasing chances of false goods entering the legitimate supply chain.
This problem is dealt with by the leading Anti Counterfeit Packaging Solution Providers, who are strengthening the supply chain by adding invisible cryptogenic measures to product packaging.
A renowned name in the Anti Counterfeit Packaging Solution industry is Authentix. The company was formed in 2003 after the merger of US-based Isotag and UK- based Biocode. Both companies were dedicated to the authentication of products and supply chains, including fuels, pharmaceuticals, wine/spirits, and crop sciences.
Both companies were started with intellectual property portfolios originating from Los Alamos National Laboratory and Royal Dutch Shell, among others. Using chemistry, physics, and advanced hardware and software development, the companies utilized these technology platforms as a core hub to build lines of business in various industries by providing the world’s most advanced systems in technology-based solution sets for companies to combat fraud and illicit trading of valuable branded goods.
Since 2003, Authentix has grown to over 400 employees with offices located on four continents. Now, it serves dozens of industries, including branded and national fuel distribution, excise tax recovery, brand protection for high-value branded products, and protects over 26 denominations of banknote currencies.
Authentix clientele range from Fortune 500 companies to national governments and includes multiple central bank clients across the globe. Today, Authentix invests heavily in its growing technology platform and program service capabilities concentrating on the success of its customers by saving and recovering billions of dollars for them in the process.
Keeping Customers at the Forefront
Authentix is in the business of providing insights to its customers to help them secure their products and the supply chains those products travel through. This ensures that consumers get authentic products, producers compete on a level playing field, and governments provide good governance over their markets (stopping crime and collecting taxes rightfully due to them so they can better serve their citizens.)
The company’s solution starts by marking products to uniquely identify and authenticate the product with overt and/or covert security features depending on the business requirements of the customer. It can then associate data with the product in its family of digital software platforms underpinned by the Authentix Information System, AXIS®.
For brand protection of commercial and consumer products, the company provides DigiTrax™, a web-based track and trace system for secure digital codes which can carry information such as the product type, serialized information, manufacturing site and date, and other relevant shipping and product movement events.
For its government tax stamp business, Authentix deploys TransAct™, also a web-based countrywide system deployed in product manufacturing sites for the application and production monitoring of each product through the supply chain. This incorporates transactions that may include inspection events, or chain of custody transfers as these consumer-based products move from manufacturer to retail points of sale.
All the data is aggregated and analyzed within Authentix’s database systems to drive supply chain insights. The company’s software-enabled technologies are growing rapidly to deliver these insights. These include internet brand infringement protection, fuel management data systems, national and centralized product track and trace systems, and a large installed base of high-speed banknote sensors to detect authenticity and quality at multiple central bank locations.
Overcoming Adversities Effectively
The primary challenge in a technology-based business is to constantly adapt to the technical changes in regulations, supply chain modifications, and other ancillary environmental and product changes that are frequently a moving target in this highly agile, technical world. Authentix’s program management service group works directly with its clients and their vendors/suppliers on a weekly basis. This helps the company to stay up to speed on any modifications to processes, products, or pathways to distribution that may require a change to its technology or process. Being able to quickly adapt is one of several reasons Authentix has a long history of client retention and longevity of technical competence to meet the ever-changing needs of both customers and the industry.
Forerunner with a Foresight
The personality leading Authentix from the front is Kent Mansfield, the Chief Sales and Marketing Officer. Having started his career in commercial and investment banking, he quickly developed a love for technology and product development after taking an executive role with a technology company in the security industry. After being with the company for a short while, Mr. Kent served as the VP of Sales for this publicly traded manufacturer of commercial security hardware. He later became VP of Global Operations, managing the European subsidiaries and officing out of Belgium for two years.
Collaborations on Multiple Fronts
In its quest to safeguard the integrity of global commerce, Authentix has developed associations with many noteworthy government and private organizations. It teams up with dozens of Fortune 500 companies and various pharmaceutical and FMCG companies to deliver excellent outputs.
Authentix serves governments worldwide with large national programs to protect against the threat of fraud and excise tax evasion. In this line of business, it provides technology and services to help monitor and eliminate illicit trading in the nation’s fuel supplies. With its assistance, governments realize large increases in excise tax collections as fraudulent trading can be reduced from over 30% to less than 5% – this can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars in additional taxes each year.
Authentix offers track and trace technology to monitor, detect, and help mitigate illicit trading in multiple packaged consumer products that provide the majority of excise tax revenue to these government clients. These products often include tobacco, alcohol, sugar, bottled drinks, cement, and fertilizer, among many others. In these cases, Authentix works with all domestic manufacturers and importers to equip their factories and stations with application equipment for secure tax stamps.
The company works with multiple global central banks to protect their issued banknotes in circulation by providing high-security level 3 covert protection to detect potential counterfeit currency. Authentix also designs, manufactures, and has over 500 sensors embedded in cash processing machines in these central banks to not only detect and reject counterfeit banknotes but also to perform a quality check of the notes for fitness to remain in circulation.
Utilizing Technological Advancements to Provide Enhanced Experiences
Authentix has been the global leader in advanced security features for commercial products. These include many covert and overt methods for brand owners to detect fraud, quickly ringfence, and mitigate damage caused by fraud, and track and trace commercial products through the supply chain.
The company provides both proprietary detectors and readers and has digital track and trace solutions. These solutions include the DigiTrax™ platform that can incorporate Encrypted QR Codes and APPless-based smartphone interaction for authentication and/or consumer engagement applications.
Authentix has developed other proprietary devices for fuel quality and fuel marker detection analysis and has over 500 installed sensors for banknote currency authentication and quality control. Its unique devices and analyzers are world-renowned as the gold standard in the industry.
Recipient of Various Laurels
Owing to its dedicated and innovative endeavors, Authentix has received many rewards and recognitions. It has received the President’s E Award from the Department of Commerce in 2021. In multiple past years, the company has been recognized as a lead US-based exporter of goods and services to the rest of the world. Moreover, it has obtained multiple ISO certifications and security endorsements from some of the most demanding governments and agencies across the globe.
An Exciting Future Awaits
In addition to its organic growth and new customers that it is bringing on each year, Authentix is looking to acquire other organizations in like or adjacent markets to further expand its reach, relevance, and value proposition. In the last four years, it has made three strategic acquisitions that have significantly expanded its revenue growth and capacity. The company will continue in this acquisitive mode for the next several years to maintain its leadership position in the markets it serves today and aims to serve in the future.
