Another first from AlpVision! The company's breakthrough Fingerprint technology now detects fake auto parts – extending its application to an industry where counterfeiting is growing.

The counterfeit auto parts "industry" has become a global epidemic – with billions of dollars worth of fake auto components produced worldwide, circulated to unsuspecting consumers and, in many cases, resulting in injury or even death to both drivers and passengers. Automobile companies also pay a price: last year, a published report stated that counterfeit auto parts were costing Ford $1 billion a year.

Among the parts frequently counterfeited are: camshafts, transmission fluids, bearings, belts, valves, brake pads, shocks and struts, spark plugs. The question is, can fake auto parts be spotted? Is visual inspection enough? Will feeling the component or checking its packaging do the job? Enter AlpVision…

The Swiss-based company provides security and brand protection solutions based on digital analysis of images and the detection of signals with a very low signal-to-noise ratio. For durable goods such as mechanical parts or electromechanical components, however, AlpVision offers read-only solutions which cannot be falsified. Sold under the trademark Fingerprint™, the technology identifies original parts by capturing the object's image in normal light, then analyzing the result in comparison with the manufacturer’s product database.

At the recent European Automotive Components Expo 08 in Stuttgart, Germany, the company demonstrated how Fingerprint could be applied to the detection of genuine or fake automotive parts, such as spark plugs and oil filters, using a standard USB microscope such as that used in the industry for automated visual quality control.

Here’s how the authentication technology works.

While every solid part and component is different at a micro level, they may look identical to the naked eye. Two original parts or components from the same manufacturer are bound to contain micro differences that mark them just as naturally as if they were human fingerprints. Natural micro differences are always unique and cannot be reproduced.  AlpVision’s patented software solution uses these micro differences to authenticate genuine products from fake ones and uncover market diversion instantly.

Using off-the-shelf office scanners or video cameras in the factory, the AlpVision solution can record an image of each and every solid part and component – saving the images in a database along with other data, such as serial numbers (if available), production date, manufacturing location, etc. And all this without modifying the part or adding any special marking.

The AlpVision identification software can determine immediately whether the pictures of the components correspond to the saved images (if they do, then they are genuine) and whether components found to be genuine bear the correct serial number (if not, the component has been market-diverted). The solution works both online and offline. With the latter, AlpVision provides a single point of contact for the entire supply chain and even the end-consumer - one that works worldwide through Internet/Intranet connection.

Yes, there are several points to keep in mind when trying to spot counterfeit automobile components – including price differences, installation problems, strange packaging, place of manufacture. But nothing beats a proven technology that’s been demonstrated to work in detecting genuine from fake auto parts.

Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Vevey, Switzerland, AlpVision provides brand owners and value document issuers with security solutions – including Fingerprint™, Cryptoglyph™, and Krypsos™ - that protect them against counterfeiting and other fraudulent attacks.

Cryptoglyph and AlpVision are registered trademarks of AlpVision SA. Fingerprint and Krypsos are trademarks of AlpVision SA.