TBF COMMUNITY

Last Friday, Stefanos from TronicPool GmbH put up two photos of markings that came off with acetone. I directed him to an excellent article written by Joseph Ruggiero of North Shore Components. So for this week’s posting I thought it would be a good idea to use Mr. Ruggiero’s as discussion springboard.

Counterfeiting is a huge problem for the industry. No news here for most of us. But the question to ask is what can you do to help Does the industry truly want government to set the guidelines or should the industry as whole move to create their own guidelines? The obvious answer should be all components of the industry should work together.

Independent Distributors of Electronics Assn. (IDEA) started the ball rolling with the independent distributors to set up some type of incoming inspection controls, but Leon Hamiter of Components Technology Institute(CIT) put real power behind being certified by analyzing a company as a whole and their processes and by ensuring certified companies physically purchase the necessary machinery to do a complete and thorough inspection. Yes this is costly but the new reality is this may be a very necessary business expense.

But what if you are a small broker? The CIT certification would be cost prohibitive. The IDEA standard is an excellent starting point. Another option is to outsource the testing to a certified lab or to ensure your end user will test the parts and make this part of your P.O. to minimize any action from said OEM after the fact if something goes wrong. Many brokers who routinely test include the cost of testing when pricing when bidding on a contract. Is it practical? Maybe not in all cases, but is it worth the possible backlash from your OEM if the sold parts causes damages to boards at a later date which require extensive re-work and downs a line causing a serious financial strain on your OEM who must now scramble to find parts from a reliable vendor. The odds are against you they will give a second chance.

OEMs need to start establishing product markings also, but if your company is stocking you should investigate in your own product marking perhaps with an infrared marking in addition to provide a report the parts are genuine. I would love to have someone expand on the viability and costs involved if one should go this route here.

Article Source:

“Stopping the Flow of Counterfeit Components” Authored by Joseph Ruggiero, North Shore Components posted by Laurent Bernardin

MachineDesign.com, July 30, 2009

Additional Site links:

IDEA - www.idofea.org/

CIT - www.cti-us.com/