How do you seal packages against tampering and pilfering in transit - a users guide to tamper evident labels and seals
How do you seal packages against tampering and pilfering in transit - a users guide to tamper evident labels and sealsEver been concerned that items you store, post or courier are being opened and viewed by individuals you don't want to? Its generally good practice to be protective over sensitive information or valuable goods, and many companies are now wising up to the risks of sensitive commercial information falling into the wrong hands. From product pilfering of valuable goods in the supply chain to sealing of confidential client notes, we quite regularly want to ensure that what we want to remain secret, stays secret.Recent advances by specialist tamper evident seal suppliers now enable companies concerned about unauthorised opening of their packages to be confident that the budget required to circumvent the technology is way beyond the value of the goods contained - good news!Another growing requirement is the requirement for unique customisation such as numbering or barcoding - essential for tracking the threat of potential counterfeit seals used to secure otherwise secure areas.One common solution to these products is the growing use of self adhesive tamper evident seals and labels, which offer unique customisation of size, colour, print and tamper evident technology idea for special secure packaging. When selecting a tamper evident label solution be aware of the following common problems:1)Does the supplier know what they are talking about? Are they a specialist in tamper evidence or are they flogging you a stock solution at an inflated price because they see you as naive?2)Ask the manufacturer how they would get around their own technology - be wary of people who say that everything they sell is secure (send it to a specialist such as Mercian Labels Ltd and they'll show you it isn't!)3)Are the minimum run lengths small enough for your needs? Many users don't need millions of security seals, just enough for their application, and this can be an issue for small volume users.4)are there lots of different technologies available to suit the exact end user application? Some suppliers offer a wide range of techniques to provide an exact bespoke solution.Remember, if its an off the shelf solution, anyone else can buy it, its almost certainly NOT secure and there is no point taking a half baked approach to a problem where determined and clever criminal minds have been before you for a long time. Specialist suppliers of such technologies such as Mercian Labels offer short run tamper evident labels specifically for sealing surfaces without leaving a residue. Technologies include thermochromic inks, high temperature adhesives, security cuts, custom void messaging and DNA taggants for very specialised applications are also sometimes used.Be safe, be secure!Further reading: www.securitylabels.com - tamper evident label specialists (international)
About the Author
Dr Adrian Steele PhD is a leading researcher into tamper evident technologies at Mercian Labels Ltd (UK) - www.securitylabels.com Visit their website at: http://www.securitylabels.com/applications.htm
Tell others about
this page:
Comments? Questions? Email Here