Now fueled by the Internet’s simplicity to create gray markets, counterfeiting gravely affects a company’s immediate revenue and does incalculable long-term damage when substandard product is associated with a brand. The World Customs Organization estimates that counterfeiting has increased by 100 times since 1982. The FDA estimates that 10 percent of all prescription drugs sold worldwide are counterfeit. Counterfeiting and piracy cost U.S. businesses alone at least $200 billion a year, according to the FBI.

A Track & Trace system that synthesizes packaging information from product at all stages in the supply chain – like the Videojet IMprints™ Track & Trace Solution – is your best defense against counterfeiting. You can identify false product and its entry point into the marketplace and take strong action against it.

Unscrupulous individuals divert product to unintended retail outlets, diluting the marketer’s brand image and creating ill-will within the legitimate sales channel. Diversion is especially damaging to higher-end brands whose image is tied to its being sold in select outlets. The Anti-Gray Market Alliance estimates that diversion is a $20 billion business in the U.S. annually and a $10 billion business in the European Union.

Videojet's IMprints Track & Trace Solution is powerful protection against diversion, as it can identify precisely where – and thus by whom – product was diverted from its intended distribution channel.

Product recalls happen, but PR fallout as manufacturers fumble to locate the tainted product is preventable. A Track & Trace system like Videojet's is the perfect insurance policy. Tracking a shipment – down to the individual unit level, through the entire distribution chain – allows a manufacturer to pinpoint the location of any unit immediately. This is crucial in a product recall.

With the World Health Organization estimating that up to 10 percent of the drugs purchased worldwide are counterfeit, many governmental bodies are requiring action from manufacturers and those in the supply chain.

Videojet’s IMprints Track & Trace Solution is the perfect feeder system for pharmaceutical manufacturers, as Videojet handles code generation and application and ties it off to the intended next recipient in the supply chain. This code data is easily fed into your business systems that handle the specifics of ePedigree document transfer and electronic signoff.