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Honeywell,iTrace and SecureMarking teams up to combat counterfeit activity
Honeywell,iTrace and SecureMarking teams up to combat counterfeit activity
19 December 2019: In a first of its kind Joint venture, Honeywell has teamed up with iTrace and SecureMarking to combat increasing counterfeit activity through patented and blockchain technology. This will increase increase transparency and simplify supply-chain operations in the complex regulatory and supply-chain landscape in the industry.
In this process, Honeywell can track an airplane part and activate the authenticity and birth records on its digital blockchain ledger. This anti-counterfeit technology will have a far-reaching impact in aerospace, where parts change ownership an average of four times throughout their lifecycle.
How does this work?
iTRACE's 2DMI data matrix is laser-etched onto the identification plate
Once a part comes off the Honeywell assembly line, the identification plate receives a two-factor authentication marking
Then an invisible, high-security ink is applied. (This ink is provided by Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies (PMT) business and SecureMarking, a third-party authentication company)
Then, the iTRACE mobile app scans the 2D matrix and activates the digital authenticity record for the part.
This data, along with the part's birth information, is recorded on Honeywell's digital blockchain ledger
The two-factor authentication follows the part from the time of installation until it is taken out of service. This results in reduction in counterfeit parts and a more dependable supply chain for manufacturers.
"Honeywell is committed to enhancing part provenance and authenticity in aerospace part sales, and to provide transparency by storing digital verification records onto the blockchain ledger for all to see," said Lisa Butters, general manager of Honeywell's GoDirect Trade online marketplace. "Our mission is to build the first aerospace marketplace that customers can confidently buy quality parts from. Our work with Honeywell PMT, SecureMarking and iTRACE is bringing new levels of security to the aviation industry."
"We help companies solve the problem of securely connecting their physical parts to their blockchain digital ledgers with a 2DMI mark that is laser-etched onto the identification plate, ranging in size from 0.1 mm by 0.1 mm to 5 mm by 5 mm," said iTRACE founder and CEO Mark Manning. "Together with Honeywell, we can now cost-effectively secure, track, trace and authenticate any part, anywhere in the world, creating the provenance for that part throughout its life cycle."
The beauty of this database management is, it's like numerous fans watching a game of ball simultaneously, and having a look at the scoreboard to see the score real-time. The highly secure and decentralised database by Honeywell's blockchain is crowd-sourced by all its authorised users. Thus, every Honeywell user has a copy of the database and knows its contents in real-time.
This process will revolutionise the aerospace industry where a repair technician will be able to scan a code and shine a light on the identification plate to verify authenticity of the part and see where the part has physically travelled during its lifetime.
So, every stop the part makes on its journey is tracked on the blockchain ledger to verify an aircraft part's history and provide new levels of transparency for customers.
"Honeywell is helping us provide new levels of security necessary in the aerospace industry to link physical parts in a supply chain to its digital records," said Daniel Stanton, president of SecureMarking. "We use upconverting nanoparticle ink to create physically unclonable codes, bringing the ability for every aerospace part to be stored on the blockchain network."
