Why track and trace technology is important for securing supply chains?

Counterfeiting, tampering or adulteration can take place at any part of the supply chain. Counterfeiters can sneak in at any stage and can make counterfeit copies of the genuine product or can tamper with its packaging and contents.  A supply chain is the network of all the individuals, organizations, resources, activities and technology involved in the creation and sale of a product, from the delivery of source materials – from the supplier to the manufacturer, and the final product delivery to the end user.

Organisations and company owners can take the necessary measures to secure their supply chains. Different technology tools can be used as effective solutions to secure supply chains. Since the supply chain encompasses different stages, therefore, it is difficult to individually monitor each of them. Moreover, it is manually not feasible to examine loopholes or any errors in the supply chain.

Of late, different kinds of technologies are being used to secure and monitor supply chains. The amalgamation of IT-enabled authentication technology and holographic authentication technology is being used by companies worldwide. A good example is the use of barcode or QR code technology which not just digitally authenticates the products but also links it with different IT-enabled solutions like track and trace.

Track and trace system is one-of-its-kind technology which helps in tracking and tracing the product throughout the supply chain. The technique provides a unique identifying code (bar code/ QR code) onto each product after it has been packaged. This enables individual products to be tracked from production to the end consumer and helps manufacturers significantly reduce counterfeiting by ensuring products can be easily identified.

Digital authentication through a QR code and barcode take place on the individual product, pack, case and pallet level. Variable and unique QR codes are difficult to copy and thus provide security on each level of the supply chain. Holostik is a pioneer of anti-counterfeiting solutions and provides a range of holographic and digital authentication solutions for securing products and supply chains. Its security holograms enabled with digital authentication solutions help in providing a multi-layered security approach to the product and the company’s supply chain.