Following quickly in the wake of Koenig & Bauer’s 'protected at print' initiative launch, Bosch has set up a new product authentication business and has teamed up with Koenig & Bauer to bring the product to the printing industry.
Bosch Secure Authentication, a new Bosch business, is now home to the software solution Origify, a version of which - Ovjera - has now been developed specifically for the printing industry
Bosch Secure Authentication, a new Bosch business, is now home to the software solution Origify, which was developed in-house by Bosch for its authentication and traceability on its own product lines.
Origify records a product’s unique ‘microstructure’, whereby an image is recorded during the production of each individual object, this is then converted into a digital identity and stored securely in the cloud. All that is then required for verification is to take another photo using a smartphone app and compare it with the reference data stored in the database.
A version of Origify specifically for the printing industry has been developed, called Ovjera, designed to work with high volumes and at printing industry manufacturing speeds, so it can be integrated with printing presses without having to slow down production.
Koenig & Bauer anticipates that by using Ovjera technology, products can be protected by being photographed at the end of the production chain prior to packaging and shipping. Director of Protection Technologies at Koenig & Bauer Vision & Protection, Marc Hunsänger, says: “With Ovjera, we are integrating a technology that lays the foundation for the next generation of brand protection.”
“Our customers receive a future-proof tool for anchoring the digital, counterfeit-proof identity of their products directly in the printing process – without any additional materials. In this way, we achieve a significant increase in security while simultaneously minimising the risks associated with artificially created security features. This is modern, sustainable, and highly secure production all in one.”
Hunsänger added that companies can use this technology to better detect counterfeits and for uses such as making sure fake returns do not re-enter the goods cycle. Companies and brand owners can also choose to allow customers to verify the authenticity of a product themselves using a smartphone app.
Bosch Secure Authentication confirms that the size of the problem this technology aims to help fix is vast, saying that more than 152 million counterfeit goods worth billions of euros were seized in the European Union in 2023, costing companies billions, even trillions of dollars.
