Members of ESCO, (the Electronic Systems Community, formerly the UK Electronics Alliance) together with representatives from the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) will – with cross industry support – address the subject of Counterfeit Avoidance in the UK electronic components supply network at a meeting in London at the end of February.
Counterfeit electronic components are an increasingly significant problem in the electronic components supply network. Reports of counterfeit parts quadrupled in the period 2009/11, infiltrating even the most secure supply chains. In 2013 alone the Anti-Counterfeiting Forum website received an average of 30 new reports per week.
With the majority of electronic components now being automatically pick and placed at high speed on surface mounted PCBs, the cost and time delay involved with rework to remove counterfeit products is huge,” said Graham Nesbit, Chairman of SMART Group.
The joint ESCO/BIS organised seminar on Strategies for Counterfeit Avoidance in the Supply Chain, to be held at London’s 1VS Conference Centre on Thursday 27th February 2014, is the latest in a series of events aimed at raising awareness of this issue. The proceedings will build on previous seminars by providing an update from many of the UK’s leading experts of the work being undertaken to combat this threat. Seminar delegates new to this issue will receive a broad insight into the problem together with advice on how to access current information, and support to reduce the risk to their organisations.
The event will be chaired by Ian Blackman, Secretary of COG (Components Obsolescence Group). According to Blackman the Seminar will “provide a great opportunity for delegates to learn a range of strategies for tackling the issue of counterfeit electronic components, based on best practice from others in the industry.”
Chairman of UK Trade Association ECSN (Electronic Components Supply Network), Adam Fletcher, believes that Procurement and Materials Management professionals will find attendance at the seminar particularly useful: “Procurement professionals need to carefully consider and then implement strategies to protect their organisations from this very real threat,” said Fletcher.
Dr. Graeme Philp, Chairman of GAMBICA agrees: “It’s important for the automation, instrumentation and control industries to get the counterfeit avoidance message across and to promote the sharing of mitigation strategies to the widest possible audience.”
“This seminar brings together a wide range of industry practitioners from semiconductor manufacturing, contract electronic manufacturing, electronic components distribution, MOD, HMRC, SAE International and BEAMA to present to and network with,” said Adam Crook, Assistant Director of Electronics at BIS, “We are delighted to work with ESCO in providing our support for this important industry event.”
For additional information or to obtain a copy of the draft agenda, please email: esco.secretariat@gmail.com or visit the document library at: http://www.ukelectronicsalliance.org.uk/component/option,com_docman/task,cat_view/gid,97/Itemid,9/
To register directly for the event online please visit: https://www.regonline.co.uk/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1376977
