Uflex Limited has always been at the forefront of the fight against counterfeiting with its most contemporary and technologically advanced anti-counterfeiting and brand protection solutions.
With the dark underbelly of the fake and the spurious pegged globally at more than $461bn (as estimated by the OECD), Uflex has now assumed a larger responsibility of enhancing the brand security of its esteemed clients by ensuring that the secondary packaging that houses the primary packs is as much insulated from the menace of counterfeiting.
Uflex Limited packaging and new product development joint president Mr Jeevaraj Pillai said: "If you look at the FMCG value chain, the distributors or the wholesalers procure goods in secondary packaging. Seldom do they open these secondary packs and establish the veracity and authenticity of the singletons packed inside. This is where the counterfeiters surreptitiously seep in. They conveniently body double the secondary pack and fill it with fake products.
"Unaware of this modus-operandi the wholesaler procures goods and sells them to the retailers down the line. Thus the counterfeited products come into circulation in the market and the end-users even upon paying the full retail price get a spurious product in return. This can have a spiralling and devastating effect on the hard earned equity of a brand.
"Taking this into account, we decided to extend the dimension of our fight against counterfeiting and adopting a 360° approach in the best interest of our global clientele.
"Having mastered the art of incorporating top of the line anti-counterfeiting features on to flexible packaging, we now also possess the capabilities of plugging the same anti-counterfeiting features on unprinted paperboard (i.e. condiment for secondary packaging) and thereafter supplying it to the associated convertors.
"Much like the primary flexible packaging the secondary packaging also has a well-defined supply chain. Here I want to make clear that we are in the business of flexible packaging and are not treading into the territory of board converting. All that we are doing is to compliment both the elements i.e. primary and secondary packaging in the best interest of our clients offering a wholesome protection against counterfeiting. Primary packaging cannot be protected by keeping the secondary packaging alienated.
"What we effectively do is to pre-apply the anti-counterfeiting feature on to the unprinted board/ raw material of the secondary packaging which in turn is processed by the board convertors. The anti-counterfeiting features on the board are exactly identical in size, shape and character as those on the primary packaging to complete the brand protection loop making it absolutely impregnable.
"To elaborate further, we procure the board stock and put it on to our sophisticated digital imaging system which creates 3D surface enhancement on the board through hot foil stamping process on a reel to reel format. The digital imager does this with perfect registration w.r.t. the artwork, thus enabling flexibility of placement of the anti-counterfeiting feature anywhere on the board as per the design mandated by the brand.
"The anti-counterfeiting feature so applied on the board is sheeted on a technologically superior sheeting machine to provide high level of registration accuracy to the board convertor in order to register with print.
"The image enhancement technology on the board ensures that the anti-counterfeiting feature perfectly matches with that on the primary flexible packaging. Thus both secondary and primary packaging, come under the protection of identical brand protection solution. The Reel to Sheet Conversion Technology that we deploy maintains perfect synchronisation of the anti-counterfeiting feature with the artwork. We are getting very good response for this 360° approach to combat counterfeiting."
Uflex Limited chairman and managing director Mr Ashok Chaturvedi said: "A 360° approach to cover both primary and secondary packaging under the brand protection net is a concrete step towards assisting our clients to unleash their brand potential to the fullest thereby adding value to their business. Being a brand custodian myself I can truly understand the toil and sweat that goes into building a brand. I am happy that my team has assumed a yet bigger role in the global fight against counterfeiting."