Sep 24, 2013German messenger-bag manufacturer Bagjack is deploying a new RFID-based anti-counterfeiting solution from Berlin startup Serfides, intended to help confirm the authenticity of goods, as well as identify instances in which the product may have undergone an unexpected channel on its way to consumers. This past summer, Bagjack piloted the technology by tagging its high-end products with Near Field Communication (NFC) RFID tags, and by then reading those tags as they left the manufacturing site. But now, the company intends to instruct some of its dealers in Japan, as well as its own international scouts, to begin reading the tags, to ensure that the bags stay on the expected supply chain route.
Serfides was founded a year ago, after some early development work was conducted on the anti-counterfeiting software, which has two primary purposes: to authenticate products, and to track the goods' movements through the supply chain. For the authentication feature, Serfides software assigns each tagged item with a specific validation code that is paired with a unique ID number encoded to that item's passive RFID tag—either high-frequency (HF) or ultrahigh-frequency (UHF)—or on a label printed with a 2D data matrix or QR code. That validation code is encrypted and stored not only on the tag's chip, but also in Serfides software operating on a user's back-end database. When an interrogator reads the tag's unique ID, it also captures its validation code. Serfides software operating on the user's database then decrypts that code. If the code does not match the one linked to the tag's unique ID number, the user can assume he or she has a counterfeit tag and product.
It can be difficult for manufacturers, retailers or customers to determine if an RFID tag is cloned. Therefore, a company that reads a cloned tag on a counterfeit product might not realize that item is actually a fake. Serfides' solution is intended to prevent such tag cloning, according to Richard Doll, Serfides' managing director. In addition, Doll says, the solution is designed to check an individual product's movement history against the scheduled movement profile previously entered into the software during logistics planning processes.
Bagjack produces rugged messenger bags that it initially provided to bicycle couriers, and which have since become popular with a variety of customers worldwide. The company makes high-end messenger bags, and as its business has grown, it has begun offering less expensive products manufactured in Asia for mass-market purposes. Counterfeiting and gray-market redirection of its goods through the wrong channels are both of concern to the company, particularly with regard to its higher-priced custom products, which are still manufactured in Germany.
The company has opted to employ button-style HID Global NFC RFID tags on products manufactured in Germany, as well as QR codes on goods made in Asia. Bagjack had considered utilizing UHF RFID tags, Doll says, but opted for the NFC tags to make it possible to use NFC-enabled phones to interrogate the tags rather than large "industrial-type" readers.
The Serfides software being used by Bagjack stores not only each bag's encrypted validation key and tag ID number, but also its expected route through the supply chain. As a bag leaves the German manufacturing site, its NFC tag is read by onsite personnel, and that read data is stored in the Serfides software, thereby indicating that item has left the facility. The company can also input the bag's expected supply chain route—for example, whether it is destined for Japan, the United States or elsewhere in Europe.
This fall, Doll says, Bagjack plans to request that some wholesalers of its high-end products in Japan begin reading tags via their NFC-enabled phones upon receiving the goods. That information would then be made available to the dealer, as well as to Bagjack. The messenger-bag manufacturer also intends to later send scouts to enter stores in specific areas, in order to conduct spot checks. They will read the tags of goods being sold at various stores, and that data will be received by the Serfides software on Bagjack's server, thereby confirming not only the product's authenticity, but also the validity of its location. If the product is expected to arrive in the United States, for instance, and a retailer in Asia reads its tag, Bagjack could receive an alert and then contact that retailer to resolve the problem.
According to Doll, the pilot—which focused simply on ensuring that the tags could be read, and that the collected data could be stored in the software—was completed last month. Bagjack, he says, is now moving into the next phase of the installation, by continuing to tag products and by working with some of its wholesalers and retailers in Japan to begin reading tags within that country.
In the meantime, Serfides is launching another pilot with a large manufacturer that produces pumps and specialty tools. In this case, the company (which has asked to remain unnamed) will use the labels to ensure the authenticity of products that reach retailers. The manufacturer also aims to pilot how well the technology could be used to track the service and maintenance history of its products. Doll says the manufacturer is interested in offering the Serfides solution as a value-added service to customers who may want maintenance or other servicing support for a product. In this case, he explains, the manufacturer could provide a buyer with a Serfides label that could then be read in order to obtain service on the product during the future months or years. By reading the tag via an NFC-enabled phone loaded with the Serfides app, the buyer could be directed to the manufacturer's servicing department, or could automatically place an order for a maintenance request.
Serfides is currently marketing its solution directly to potential customers, as well as through systems integrators.
