Microtaggants, you're it! Anti-counterfeiting now easier, cheaper

Stopping counterfeiters just got easier. Microtaggant traceable anti-counterfeit technology, developed and marketed by Microtrace LLC (Minneapolis, MN), has been available for some years, but the established product has seen some recent improvements that should make it more attractive to a broad base of plastics processors and their customers.

Brian Brogger, VP at Microtrace, told MPW that, as a result of modifications to the technology, Microtaggant particles are now easier to detect, locate, and read in plastics. “This allows the technology to be used effectively at extremely low loading levels which ultimately results in reducing the cost of the application,” says Brogger.

Previously, explained Brogger, Microtaggant technology was priced out of some plastics applications due to the loading level required. “This is no longer true—Mictroggants can now be used economically in virtually all plastic applications—regardless of the finished part price or value,” he stated.

Taggants are uniquely encoded for each customer or application and are used to address issues of counterfeiting, product liability/warranty, and other product security/brand protection issues.  In the plastics industry, the anti-counterfeit technology is compounded into a masterbatch for processing.

Microtrace taggants are delivered to the plastics industry in two formats.  For the compounder or masterbatcher, the taggants are delivered in dry particle form for compounding into a masterbatch. For the plastics processor, the taggants are delivered in a finished masterbatch, per customer specification, and ready for processing. According to Microtrace, the anti-counterfeit taggant masterbatch can be processed on standard equipment.

“The technology is being used by a number of different compounders, masterbatchers, and plastics processors throughout the world to covertly identify hundreds of millions of pounds of plastic used to make everything from construction materials to consumer packaging,” added Brogger.

Find earlier coverage of the technology and other anti-counterfeit measures in our article here. —[email protected]