Nov 8, 20232 min read

How do you protect yourselves against FIGO?

Updated: Dec 3

GIGO, the old acronym is familiar to many of us: Garbage In, Garbage Out.

But have you heard about the updated version, adapted to the increasing influx of fake products, also into our supply chains: FIGO – Fake In, Garbage Out?

Luckily, there's a way to avoid it.

Infiltration by counterfeits

With the increased sophistication and proliferation of counterfeiters, we simply cannot fully trust the authenticity any longer of the items we receive at the loading docks of our production facilities. Our partners earlier in the supply chain may be as legitimate as ever, but counterfeiters have found ways to sneak their copies into the supply chain, exchanging original parts for their copies.

We need to verify authenticity also at the start of our production line

Unless we verify authenticity of what we put into our products, how can we guarantee their quality? And, when the requirements for digital product passports by the European Union come into action, how can we guarantee the validity of the data? Copies may look the same, but the data is only as reliable as the items themselves.

Increasing costs down the road

Substandard counterfeit components may well lead to soaring costs for warranty repairs, servicing and maybe even legal costs if something goes drastically wrong. Plus, what are the costs of a product recall, by the way?

Reduced trust and price pressure

With reduced reliability comes reduced trust and loyalty by customers. And, subsequently, less reason for them to pay premium prices for your product. You, or rather your sales force will have to work harder to close upcoming deals.

Erosion of brand and stock value

The combined effect of those factors will not be positive for the value of brand and stock, right?

So, the value of avoiding FIGO goes all the way from the travelling service technician or customer service officer to the CEO.

We want you to be safe, not sorry

Granny was right, it's better to be safe than sorry. That's why we at Blue Cromos work with product authentication both for packaged goods as well as in bulk, still without adding anything to items. Nothing, but reliability, that is.

Just reach out here if you want us to explain to you how we do it.

We'll get back to how to avoid costly stoppages of your production line in an upcoming post.

With the increased sophistication and proliferation of counterfeiters, we simply cannot fully trust the authenticity any longer of the items we receive at the loading docks of our production facilities. Our partners earlier in the supply chain may be as legitimate as ever, but counterfeiters have found ways to sneak their copies into the supply chain, exchanging original parts for their copies. Unless we verify authenticity of what we put into our products, how can we guarantee their quality? That's why we at Blue Cromos work with product authentication both for packaged goods as well as in bulk, still without adding anything to items. Nothing, but reliability, that is.

Image by Manuel Meurisse via Unsplash