May 2008 Vossloh-Schwabe protects products with tesa® Holospot against piracy |
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 tesa scribos Holospot®  Vossloh-Schwabe |
By clearly labelling its lighting components using tesa Holospot® technology, Vossloh-Schwabe is both combating economic damage and protecting luminaire manufacturers and users against possible risks.
With a comprehensive safety concept made by tesa scribos GmbH, Vossloh-Schwabe has put effective measures in place to counter undesirable product pirates. The international company, which belongs to the Japanese Matsushita Electric Works Group, has been satisfying its customers in the lighting sector with electrical and electronic components for decades. “We manufacture a top-quality, innovative product range that has allowed us to become a leading player within the global lighting sector. However, this also makes our products a popular target for professional counterfeiters”, said Nicolai Seitz, product manager for magnetic operating devices. Counterfeit operating devices have come to the attention of Vossloh-Schwabe in the Middle East and China in particular. Per year, this not only equates to roughly two million pirated products that look almost identical to the original, but also results in a loss of sales revenue totalling at least six million euros. Still, the focus of the recently introduced safety measures is not just on limiting economic damage, as Nicolai Seitz went on to explain. “On account of deficient insulation systems inside cheap counterfeit products, their use goes hand in hand with an increased risk of fire and explosion, just as an example. In addition, the service life of a counterfeit product will only amount to about a tenth of a Vossloh-Schwabe original.” In order to combat the associated risks for luminaire manufacturers and users for the future, Vossloh-Schwabe has now joined forces with the highly competent tesa scribos company. This wholly owned subsidiary of tesa AG has specialised in a broad range of system solutions for securing and identifying branded products. In close cooperation with Vossloh-Schwabe, tesa scribos developed a bespoke solution all around the tesa Holospot® system. Providing room for up to four independent layers of information on a data field measuring no more than a few square millimetres, the self-adhesive polymer label bonds securely with the product and can contain various visible and hidden safety features – for instance, serial numbers, trademarks or other product-specific information that is inscribed in advance using a high-resolution laser. Thanks to an accompanying communications campaign that Vossloh-Schwabe recently presented at the leading trade fair for lighting technology, the Light+Building 2008 in Frankfurt, luminaire manufacturers, sales and trade partners will now be able to check product authenticity – with the naked eye or by using the complimentary magnifying glass provided by VS. “As a normal hologram is easy to copy, we did not think this was the right solution for us. tesa scribos, however, did convince us with their Holospot® system, which has already proved to be highly successful. Aided by the communications measures, our employees and customers are now in a position to clearly identify Vossloh-Schwabe products. We expect this to have a deterrent effect and thus expect a massive drop in counterfeit products”, commented Nicolai Seitz. In the wake of global economic activities, product and brand piracy have by now become mass phenomena. In a study published in 2005, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimated the global damage to have been in the region of 200 million euros. And this, again according to the OECD, was just the tip of the iceberg since neither domestic trade within individual nations nor digital piracy were taken into account.
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