American Airlines, Delta, and Southwest Airlines are among the companies experiencing pain due to counterfeit parts entering the supply chain. Major airlines, including American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Southwest Airline, Virgin Australia, Ryanair, and TAP Air Portugal, have had to take more than 100 planes out of service to pursue parts removal based upon theRead More

Distributors have a bird’s-eye view of the complex supply chains that serve the global electronics industry. When the COVID-19 crisis began in China, distributors were among the first to identify the vast impact the pandemic would have on the many markets that depend on the region’s manufacturing capabilities. We spoke with Allied Electronics & AutomationRead More

Special mil-spec marking, DNA tagging, and other advanced authentication technologies are helping to root out counterfeit connectors and cable. Are 40% of mil-spec connectors counterfeit? We’ve heard the statistic and it’s alarming — but not necessarily true. “The 40% is an average and varies wildly — from 15% to 85%,” based upon survey and programRead More

It’s imperative that medical device manufacturers use authentic connectors. Counterfeit connectors and other fake components can pose serious risks to patients, providers, and companies. Counterfeit connectors are always a problem. When they are used in medical devices, they can pose a serious risk of harm or even death to the patients who use them. OutfittingRead More

When counterfeit connectors make it into the supply chain, they can cause big problems in equipment and systems that depend on them. Knock-offs of connectors and other electronic components can cause big problems for purchasers. These parts are often deliberately designed to superficially resemble or imitate premium parts that have been manufactured with more stringentRead More

As the volume of counterfeit components increases in the marketplace, new solutions are needed to improve electronics supply chain integrity and stability.     As a serious challenge to today’s global electronics supply chain, counterfeiting and gray market diversion of electronics components threaten the integrity of products for manufacturers. Counterfeits and obsolete electronic components contribute toRead More

Counterfeit cabling can endanger the lives of patients in medical applications and facilities, and engineers and installers should take care to authenticate the cable they’ve purchased. Here are tips on how to identify counterfeit cabling in healthcare facilities.   Medical facilities aren’t immune to fraud: Drug counterfeiting and insurance fraud are a few examples of questionable activitiesRead More

The existence of copper-coated aluminum cables in the market can present serious problems for the companies using them. In an excerpt from a recent white paper, Fluke Networks describes testing methods to identify copper-clad aluminum cable, and what the future holds for the process. There are growing concerns in the network equipment industry about theRead More

Cable manufacturer Northwire deploys anti-counterfeit technology to protect customers against the flourishing counterfeit wire industry. Here are its tips on challenges and solutions for designing failsafes into your products. The next generation of anti-counterfeit verification tools safeguards consumers against hazards that can range from injury to revenue loss. The sophisticated multi-billion-dollar global “gray market” demands cooperative efforts betweenRead More

Unscrupulous sellers have found many ways to cut costs on cables, drawing customers in with the low price. L-com shares the “Seven Deadly Counterfeit Cable Sins” and advises how you can avoid them. What scares you more than a faulty, overrated, counterfeit cable? If you’re like us and work with cables on a daily basis, thenRead More

November 2013 – First, it was handbags and watches. Now counterfeiters are targeting electronic components, including ICs, relays, circuit breakers, fuses, ground fault receptacles, and cable assemblies, as well as connectors. These fakes could cause serious problems in today’s high-stakes electronics devices.

November 2013 – Ed Smith, president of Avnet Electronics Marketing Americas, believes that the electronics supply chain should prepare itself for a potential surge in counterfeit interconnect, passive, and electromechanical products.