News in Brief

Overhaul Acquires SensiGuard

US supply chain security company Overhaul has acquired SensiGuard, which offers a system that monitors cargo in real time, while shipments are in transit from origin to destination, using tracker devices embedded in pallets. These will now be incorporated into Overhaul’s software- based platform for supply-chain visibility, risk, compliance, and insurance.

According to the two companies, the deal more than doubles Overhaul’s workforce with SensiGuard’s 350 employees taking the total to 650, and adds operating sites in Brazil, Mexico, and the Czech Republic.

As a result of the takeover, Overhaul can now provide the same level of infrastructure across North America, Latin America, and Europe, according to the company, which it says increases its ability to manage global supply chains for customers.

The deal – billed as ‘transformative’ by Overhaul CEO Barry Conlon – also expands the company’s customer base with ‘some of the biggest names in tech, pharma, and other logistics service providers.’ ‘

SensiGuard’s proven track record as a leading electronic freight security service for more than two decades speaks for itself,’ commented David Broe, Overhaul’s COO and co-founder. ‘Cargo theft is a multi-billion dollar industry and that is just one of the many growing risks to cargo security and integrity that global shippers and logistics providers are grappling with on a daily basis.’ 

Oberthur Buys Into Micro-Optics

The French banknote printer and security feature developer François Charles Oberthur (Oberthur) has acquired a 65.5% stake in Rolling Optics, a Swedish developer of micro-optics technology, for a sum believed to be in the region of $15- 20 million.

Rolling Optics was founded in 2005. It had sales of SEK 28.35 million ($2.5 million) in 2021 (its last reported financial year), resulting in a loss of SEK 12.76 million ($1 million).

The company offers what it terms an Integral Imaging technique based on micro-lens patterns for generating 3D effects in film. The technique creates unique microlens patterns in the film which reflects light in such a way that different images reach the left and right eye respectively. The optical films can display both printed and covert graphics and are claimed to be resistant to counterfeiting, tampering, diversion, heat and moisture. The material is crystal clear and flexible and it can be reverse- and top-printable, or combined with printed, coated cardboard packaging materials.

Delivered as labels on rolls, in standard packaging bulk sizes or in customised sheeting sizes, Rolling Optics film has been targeted at brand protection, but it has also secured contracts for banknote security too. It was the technology behind Portals’ MOTUS thread, launched as a rival to Crane Currency’s MOTION, last year. It is also behind CCL Secure’s CINEMA™ feature for windows in polymer banknotes.

Oberthur has been active in developing security features for threads for several years, first in partnership with Hueck Folien and then on its own in 2017, when it acquired the VHP paper mill and related IP from Arjowiggins.

Last year the company launched RELIEF™, a thread with unique 3D ‘bas relief’ effects. It also offers Pulsar™, which combines colour with movement., along with Combifluo™, which offers a unique combination of UV effects, Dualtrack®, PictureThread and StarSheen®.

But not, until now, a micro-optics product.

DHS Awards Contract for Oil and Gas Tracing

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Science and Technology Directorate’s (S&T) Silicon Valley Innovation Program has made a Phase 4 contract award of almost $200,000 to Calgary- based blockchain firm Neoflow to digitally trace natural gas and crude oil transiting from Canada to the United States.

The contract was awarded under the auspices of the DHS ‘Preventing Forgery & Counterfeiting of Certificates and Licenses’ solicitation. The solicitation supports the development of standards- based technologies to continue DHS’s efforts in utilising verifiable credentials, decentralised identifiers and distributed ledger technology to address fraud and modernise operations.

But while the goal of the DHS is anti- counterfeiting, Neoflow provides a full product passport. In other words, it doesn’t just prove its origin of the oil and gas but also the environmental compliance, with a record of emissions throughout the supply chain.

‘Phase 4 is the last stage of the development process and will include a technical demonstration of the Neoflow Platform. The award is recognition of the effort of our industry and DHS partners and the Neoflow team to develop a technology that will modernise the cross-border movement of oil and natural gas’, said Jim Oosterbaan, CEO of Neoflow.

Trustmark Scheme for Jewellery Relaunches in UK

A certification scheme for jewellery sold in the UK has been expanded and re-launched in a bid to crack down on counterfeiting.

First launched in 2012 by the Edinburgh Assay office, it was the world’s first consumer online assurance scheme for the jewellery industry, and will now be adopted by all four independent UK Assay Offices, adding London, Birmingham, and Sheffield.

The relaunch includes a brand-new Trustmark design featuring a crown in place of the earlier castle, allows for a unique certification number for each jeweller, and will introduce new options for multi-channel retailers.

Jewellery retailers that apply to the Assay Assured Trustmark scheme are subject to company verification checks and then audited against a code of conduct. And jewellery buyers can click on a logo on the retailer’s website to find a certificate bearing a six-digit certification number, which can be checked on the Assay Assured website.

2019 figures prepared for the British Hallmarking Council by brand protection groups WRi and Incopro revealed that 36% of ‘gold’ jewellery listings on sites such as Amazon, eBay and Preloved had not been advertised as hallmarked, and of those, 24% were suspected as fake and therefore being sold illegally.

It is illegal to sell anything in the UK made from a precious metal (silver, gold, platinum and palladium) over a certain weight without a hallmark – a stamp of quality that protects the consumer by confirming that what they are buying is made from real precious metal.

‘Assay Offices have been protecting customers in the UK for almost 700 years. This initiative aims to bring that protection to shoppers who increasingly purchase luxury products online,’ commented Will Evans, General Manager of The Goldsmiths Company Assay office in London.