Videojet IMprints™ Track & Trace Solution Protects Brands By Mitigating Effects of Product Recalls, Counterfeiting

Videojet’s IMprints TrackTrace Solution is an end-to-end, production-floor suite of hardware, software and services. It builds from a powerful core – the application of a unique code to individual items in the production environment. From there it expands outward to capture key supply-chain information that is easily fed into other business applications, such as ERP, WMS and more. Videojet’s Imprints Track & Trace Solution fingerprints your brand.

The IMprints™ Track & Trace Solution from Videojet Technologies Inc. is a comprehensive, scalable production-floor suite of hardware and software that protects brands from the harmful effects of product recalls, counterfeiting and diversion, and helps meet government regulations regarding tracking and tracing. IMprints CodeMaster software generates unique codes that are printed on product packaging by Videojet’s wide array of variable data marking and coding equipment, and maintains transaction data about products as they progress through the supply chain. The cost-effective system has no cost-per-code charges or upfront license fees. Videojet offers turnkey implementation to existing packaging line configurations for minimal line disruptions.

Features

COUNTERFEITING
Fueled by the internet’s facility to create gray markets, counterfeiting can gravely affect a company’s immediate revenue and do incalculable long-term damage when a substandard product is associated with a brand.

DIVERSION
Unscrupulous individuals can divert products to unintended retail outlets, diluting the brand’s image and generating ill-will within the legitimate sales channel.

RECALL
Product recalls happen, and there can be PR fallout as manufacturers fumble to locate the tainted product.

UNIQUE CODES LINK PRIMARY PACKAGE TO PALLET
IMprints CodeMaster software creates unrepeatable alphanumeric, linear bar codes or two-dimensional data-matrix codes that cannot be emulated by unauthorized parties. The software also can administer codes pre-generated from outside sources, such as a company’s advertising agency. When a unique product code is applied to a primary package by a Videojet marking and coding system, such as a small-character inkjet printer, laser coder or thermal transfer overprinter, the code essentially “fingerprints” both the product and the brand.

IMprints Line Controller hardware and software coordinates all production line activities, including the variable data marking and coding solution and a camera system from Videojet partner Cognex Corporation, which verifies a valid code has been printed. A code linked to them is printed on the corrugated shipping case, a scanner documents which case codes are placed on a pallet, and a pallet label is printed and applied. The shipping document and pallet are then scanned, documenting the destination.

EASY DATA ACCESS
IMprints Shipper software ties shipments to their destinations through the process of scanning and recording codes on pallets and cases as they move through the supply chain. That information is returned to IMprints CodeMaster for manufacturer referral if a recall is necessary or product counterfeiting or diversion is suspected.
Accessing data about products with unique codes that have entered the supply chain and their associated transactions is done via IMprints Trace-It!, an Internet-based service that can be hosted by either the product manufacturer or Videojet. IMprints Trace-It! verifies code authenticity, and therefore a product’s genuineness, and can also help a manufacturer locate exactly where a suspect product lot is located within the supply chain, in order to identify potential sources of diversion or extricate it quickly in the event of a product recall.

Benefits

• Proven software and production-line control systems

• Marking and reading solutions for nearly any material or production environment

• Non-disruptive implementation adapts to existing packaging-line configurations and procedures

• Cost-effective solution is based on purchase of hardware and software components

• No ongoing cost-per-code charges or exorbitant upfront license fees

• Modular design fits individual needs

• Codes can be formulated in a myriad of ways to best fit the brand, and data can be incorporated into existing IT constructs or hosted by Videojet

• Scalable from a single production line to a multi-facility/multi-line structure while still utilizing the initial investment