Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/1022507
40 tobaccoasia / Issue 4, 2018 September / October aging that more often than not incorporates sophis- ticated holographic design elements. Suzhou Image Laser Technology Co. Ltd. has pioneered the optical anti-counterfeiting industry for the best part of three decades. Based in the eastern Chinese city of Suzhou, the company has some time ago integrated its advanced optical se- curity technologies to provide cigarette manufac- turers with a complete anti-counterfeiting package solution, which includes tax stamps, tear tapes, ho- lographic BOPP shrink films, hot stamping foils, and cigarette boxes. Besides supplying local manu- facturers, has even managed to capture a consider- able market in Europe, North and South America, according to sales director, Jack Zhang. To produce the impressive holographic and color-shifting designs for which Suzhou Image has become renowned both at home and abroad, the company deploys an interesting new technol- ogy known as "no-ink printing" (NIP). "It is nei- ther generated by a conventional printing plate nor through inkjet printing," says Zhang, adding that the technique, which today also is often used for national ID cards and other official documents, can be applied on both soft packs and hard boxes as per the customer's requirements. NIP is achieved by utilizing physical color rendering methods such as diffraction, refraction, interference, scattering, and waveguides gener- ated within the micro-nano structure to partially or completely replace ink printing to represent characters and display black-and-white and color images. The two important aspects of NIP are that it is highly secure and environmentally friendly. It also can minimize or even completely eliminate the evaporation and emission of ink, solvents and dampening solutions, reducing VOC residues and heavy metal pollution. NIP is thus regarded as one of the most effective advancements in the area of environmental-protection printing. impossible to be reproduced by unauthorized par- ties. That way we support brand values and pro- tect brands against counterfeiting and plagiarism," Schaffranke says. And for an even greater security level different types of specific molecular taggants (a.k.a. anti- stroke inks) can be applied to tear tapes, imparting unique spectral signatures that can be authenti- cated in a laboratory. Considering the wide range of security features on offer, tear tapes, being an integral part of any cigarette packaging, present themselves "as the most cost-effective carrier for security features," Schaffranke asserts. China: counterfeiting affects local and foreign brands alike Thanks to a very large smoking populace, China boasts a myriad of local cigarette brands in addition to the offerings from regional and multinational to- bacco companies. Especially the brands of the latter ones, often iconic and thus coveted by local smok- ers as a status symbol, are routinely counterfeited and/or smuggled – to the detriment of their respec- tive brand owners. But the counterfeiting scourge routinely affects local brands as well. One way to protect themselves is by using very elaborate pack- Authenticating a Cryptoglyph-secured cigarette pack using the AlpVision smart- phone app (AlpVision SA) [Suzhou Image Laser Technology Co. Ltd] [Suzhou Image Laser Technology Co. Ltd] Cigarette packs with covert security features achieved through NIP Security tear tape with micro-features as supplied by Suzhou Image Laser Technology Co.