Global Obsolescence, Compliance & Counterfeit Risk Symposium 2012

Canics attended the ERAI Executive Conference 2012 this month. Titled; Global Obsolescence, Compliance & Counterfeit Risk Symposium. The conferences mainly pertained to the National Defense Act (detection and avoidance of counterfeit electronic parts), Supply Chain management/lead times and related trends, component risk mitigation and latest inspection techniques, as well as existing standards and forthcoming improvements. Among some of the speakers of high interest to Canics were, Kirsten M. Koepsel Director Legal Affairs, AIA, Steve Foster of NASA, Phil Zulueta Chairman SAE Int’l G19, Colin Mortimer GE Intelligent platforms, Mark Northrop Dynamic Research and Testing Lab (DRTL) and Debra N. Eggeman executive director IDEA. The two-day conferences began in the mornings with guest speakers, and the afternoons were allocated for workshops. Among some of the workshops of high interest was Proficiency in counterfeit methods – verification of purchased products. Although Canics has been actively engaged in the inspection of incoming product, “The idea is to stay ahead of the counterfeiters by use of all inspection techniques available”. Counterfeiters are unable to reproduce the perfect standards of repetition that only a manufacturers production line can produce. Often times a part has been modified, typically sanded down, recoated and/or remarked or refurbished in some manner. The techniques and products used are more and more sophisticated and thus difficult to discern with the naked eye. This is why high-resolution microscope with imagery recording, Dynasolve, surface testing techniques and mechanical measurements are used to identify a very high percentage of fakes. Also used is X-ray and de-capsulation to validate component contents. The later is a service offered by Canics that is not currently performed in-house. Subsequent to the conference, Canics has committed to improving its engagement in component risk mitigation by implementing formal inspection reposts for each delivery of component sent to our customers. “I want our customers to understand and see what has been done to mitigate the risk towards counterfeit propagation” says Canics PDG Steve Herscheid. We have implemented a bar code reading capacity; “sometimes the bar code information on a label does not coincide with the written information”, this is an additional method of mitigation. We currently document all products entering and leaving our facility to minimum of IDEA standard1010 and use a state of the art ERP system to manage and record transactions. Canics, Inc was established in 2000 and currently operates from one location in Richelieu Quebec.