Why is a blog on Security Printing & Imaging important? A short list includes the ease, flexibility and ubiquity of product authentication that security printing and imaging enables; the novel and interdisciplinarian research underpinned; empowerment of the consumer through increased access to many layers of product information; and sustainability. I'll review the first three, but for today's blog I will focus on the (most likely) surprise entry on that list: sustainability.

1. Ease, flexibility and ubiquity of product authentication

Branded products use printing to convey the brand, SKU, product information and other data of salience to the consumer. Often, the printing is performed on the package or label. In other cases, the printing is performed on marketing collateral associated with the product. In the case of single event items, the printing literally is the product--i.e. lottery, sports tickets, concert/event tickets, entrance passes, etc.--no printing, no value. Regardless, the printing is highly tied to the product, and so authenticating the printing, if done within the right ecosystem surrounding the creation and lifecycling of the printing, is tantamount to authenticating the product. This has been discussed in past blogs under security variable data printing (e.g. see "Universal Acid", 19 May 2008), or SVDP.

2. The novel and interdisciplinarian research underpinned

You've likely heard both sides of the argument for the Space Race, which culminated in NASA landing half a dozen times on the moon and declaring victory over the USSR (although the USSR won every other event in the Space Race, so perhaps it is told and internalized differently in Russia). Proponents credit the Space Race for the computer, for color television, Nixon's visit to China, Detente, and more. The political advantages seem more likely, since for technology the consensus viewpoint appears to be that "the United States long ago learned that the spin-off argument is a weak one; although developing spacecraft does produce some useful technologies, it is generally inefficient. If you want a faster computer chip, then develop one; there is no need to go to the Moon to do so" (http://www.thespacereview.com/article/137/1). Others would say, more pointedly, "$30 Billion and all we got from that was Tang"? (Don't get me wrong, I like Tang, but I doubt it took $30 Billion to develop).

However, in the case of security printing and imaging, it is much more credible to argue that attacking counterfeiting will benefit many other important areas of research, including but not limited to: (1) novel cryptographic systems, (2) inspection, (3) quality monitoring and assurance, (4) imaging in general [from surveillance to improved authentication techniques to multimedia/multimodal imaging technologies], and (5) technology hybridization (e.g. merging printing with RFID). In addition, many novel security-printing-as-printing approaches are certain to benefit next-generation printing in arenas from sensors to printed electronics to printed batteries. More on these and other printing research areas will be described in future blogs, but suffice it to say that security printing and imaging cuts across many important technological disciplines and, in so doing, opens the door to novel advanced research.

3. Empowerment of the consumer through increased access to many layers of product information

Do you want your customer to spend more time with your product? If not, you should. Because advertising is still the most effective means to draw customers to your product. Ask Google. Their market cap to revenue ratio is roughly twice that of Microsoft, and eight times that of HP. They empower customers through simultaneously providing information and advertisement.

A simple packaging example is the in-store battery tester. Built onto the battery, this is a risky sensor--what if the battery isn't juiced anymore? But it gets the customer to spend a few extra seconds with the product--in essence, it's advertising. Every second counts--customers are much more likely to purchase a product they have interrogated.

Mobile bar code providers are seeing the on-product barcode reader as another means to garner customer/product interaction. Stick around, there will be plenty more on this in future blogs, too.

4. Sustainability

For most people, "sustainability" rightly evokes environmental concerns, usually featuring food production, oil production and global warming issues. Food production (and its high use of fossil fuels) is rightly the first focus, e.g. as noted on http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/07/17/10414/, "This year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to be the largest on record and growing U.S. corn production is a primary cause of the worsening conditions, federal and state scientists said Tuesday"

But sustainability is also about not adding new environmental, fuel and/or complexity costs to a product. Let's face it, as described in (1.) above, you're going to print anyway. And, the printing stays with the package. You've added "nothing" to the environmental cost when you achieve security through printing that would have occurred anyway. As such, printing sustainability is assured through the extant approaches to recycling, repurposing, next-generation biofriendly inks, or from separating the label from the package.

Reuse is the best approach, but biodegradable recycling is a not-too-distant second. Take for example the introduction of biocompostable utensils--e.g. http://www.ecowise.com/index.php?cPath=22_187_195. This has changed the game for "to go" cups. So, will their be a biocompostable RFID? It is likely that RFID will always have a place in the supply chain, especially where line of sight is impractical or where track and trace is sufficient (authentication can occur elsewhere). If RFID can be printed with a biodegradable variable data print process, it will completely change the game for supply chain visibility and the marrying of track and trace with authentication.

Finally, sustainability can be achieved through the rationalizing of product recalls. That is to say, sustainability is also about not wasting. Ask yourself: Do product recalls help the planet? Only to the extent that they pull dangerous material off the shelf. But pulling everything off the shelf because some items are suspect is a huge waste. Recalls of counterfeited products right now are hampered by the lack of an effective means to determine what should be pulled from the shelves and destroyed, and what should be left there. Security variable data printing (SVDP) can provide "extra" variable regions that are used only when recall is required. These are not tracked, authenticated or advertised under normal circumstances, but are read and acted upon when there is a product recall. The surfeit of security marks that SVDP provides affords such an approach in a way no other security deterrent currently can. Remember that the same security features can be used for track and trace, authentication and forensics simultaneously. The nature and breadth of the SVDP features depends on how costly the product is, how skilled the inspectors/retailers used to manage the recall are, and how costly it is to with full confidence evaluate a potentially counterfeited product. Among other factors. But, the point is, it can be done (and is done).

Would you throw out an entire carpet because you dropped a staple? No, you'd try to vacuum it up. So, why throw out good product in order to make sure you've pulled all the counterfeits off the shelf? SVDP is the "recall vacuum". I highly recommend it as one of your brand protection expedients. It's a defensible--and sustainable--plan forward.

-Steve