Vitamin maker Blackmores taps YPB's anti-counterfeit tech

Australian anti-counterfeiting technology firm YPB has signed up vitamin and supplements manufacturer Blackmores.

The deal will see Australia-based Blackmores have two years' access to YPB's full range of products and services including YPB's tracer and marker packaging technology for product authenticity, and counterfeit reporting technology.

Blackmores, which has not stated how it will deploy the YPB technology, has a growing Asian market with Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea and, most recently, Indonesia. China, too, is a particular target, where sales tripled to $31m in the first quarter of 2016/17, compared with the previous year's period.

The announcement makes Blackmores one of YPB's biggest clients and caused the anti-counterfeiter firm's shares to increase more than 16 per cent.

"The opportunity to work with Blackmores is an important endorsement of our vision to help Western exporters realise the potential of Asia while protecting and growing the value of their brands. With the technologies and talent in place, the commercialisation of our valuable and unique intellectual property is clearly gathering momentum," YPB executive chairman John Houston said.

YPB is bolstering its anti-counterfeiting presence with the new agreement, which follows just weeks after signing a deal with packaging solutions firm Orora. The new supply agreement supersedes the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed by the two companies in May this year and will allow Orora's customers – manufacturers across beverages, fruit and vegetables, and meat and seafood – to access YPB's anti-counterfeit technology.

These agreements also follow a similar agreement in July to FMCG tubing supplier, Impact International, meanwhile YPB is also moving into supplying security document technology, particularly for governments.

The agreements are part of YPB's Multiplier Partnership strategy, which allows the firm to "more rapidly and effectively penetrate markets at much lower cost and with much less risk than labouring alone", Houston said.

YPB's technology includes an invisible, indestructible tracer that according to the company can't be copied. It is incorporated into plastics, inks and fibres to create smart packaging to confirm product authenticity and is used alongside YPB's tracer scanner.

The smart packaging can also be used with YPB's track and trace solution to ensure supply chain integrity, and also allows the customer to check authenticity and report suspected counterfeits via smartphone apps. The company describes its solutions as a beginning-to-end offering.