The TV screen flashes images of several different teenagers discussing their contribution to society's drug problem, which in turn supports terrorism around the world. Who knew?

It's not that no one knew, it just wasn't thought about much until after September 11. The truth is, any illegal purchase can indirectly help terrorists. Just as important from a business standpoint, such purchases also damage the U.S. economy.

What's the converting industry doing to prevent counterfeiting and theft? A number of new developments are being commercialized—all starting with creating more secure end products via inks, labels, packaging, and optically variable devices such as holograms.

A year ago Converting took a look at who was supplying security products for converters and the types of products to consider. The events of September 11th have changed everyone's way of thinking, in the world of converting—and industry in general.

September 11 not only changed the way we look at the world around us, but the way we look at everyday products. Is it real, or is it a counterfeit? Are we helping our economy or hurting it by not knowing what we're purchasing? For these and other reasons more converting end-user customers are looking into new ways of securing their products.

"We have had more inquires and more interest in security-related products. That's true," says Stewart Glazer, vice president of sales and marketing at Crown Roll Leaf (Paterson, NJ).

Awareness of security has been a big push since last year's terrorist attacks, says Oliver Moesgen, sales and marketing manager of security products at KURZ Transfer Products (Charlotte, NC). "What was formerly viewed as a discretionary cost is now more properly perceived as an investment in the ongoing integrity of the brand," says Moesgen.

For those converting secure products, labels, or holograms, a secure facility is equally important. To assure customers they are producing the most secure product, converters must have employees sign disclosure agreements as well as have security throughout plant premises. Some companies even need government clearance on certain projects before proceeding.

"We have swipe cards and entrances that require identification," says Glazer. "It's a very secure facility in those situations where we do work generated specifically for security."

A new holographic technology holds promise to prevent counterfeiting even better than in the past—selective metallization. President and founder of SafeCard ID System 7 Ltd., located in Caesarea, Israel, Yoram Curiel developed the new hologram process, recently introducing it in the U.S.

"Holographers share one dream—how to economically personalize the hologram," says Curiel.

The selective-metallization method begun by SafeCard, and was first used in the process of creating ID cards. "Then when we saw the potential in packaging, we created the same thing for roll-to-roll application instead of a hard card," he says.

The technology allows metallization of certain parts of a label or card leaving the rest of label printed with the normal printing process. In the case of ID cards, the background of the person's picture could be a hologram. If the ID is scanned by a scanner or copier, the picture's background will become black, which prevents counterfeiters from duplicating the ID.

The same applies for any label. Converters can even go as far as applying holograms only to the eyes of a cartoon character on a label to authenticate that specific product.

Labels are printed to define the product, then only parts of the label are selectively metallized, says Curiel

"We broke the process of making holograms into two separate acts with a substantial space gap between those two steps," he says. The proprietary technology is so new that SafeCard only has one machine making this product. The process is applicable to both labels and cards.

Available in Europe since 1998, TRUSTSEAL® technology from KURZ Transfer Products made its U.S. debut just this year.

TRUSTSEAL is one of the many optically variable devices (OVD) offered for brand protection against over-the-counter and prescription-drug counterfeiting. The proprietary material can be supplied to converters as a label stock or hot-stamping foil fully metallized, transparent or partially metallized.

TRUSTSEAL can be used as a hot-stamp foil on the opening of a package with a label or as the seal cap on a product. It reportedly also offers unique covert and overt protection levels, including serial numbering, tamper indicators, nanotext, hidden images, partial demetallization and machine verification.

Applying holograms and security printing to most materials is what Hueck Foils LLC, Wall, NJ, is known for. Its latest security device, Protecco®, a holographic push-through blister lidding foil, was designed to fight counterfeiting in the pharmaceutical/healthcare markets. The device combines different security features, allowing Hueck together with its customers to mix and match them to build individual packaging solutions. Depending on the security needs required, Protecco elements can be overt or covert.

"I think at the moment, it's one of the few vehicles that can be controlled by the people who are requiring the security," says Crown Roll Leaf's Glazer. By adding variable elements to holograms, converters can customize security, so it gets harder and harder for the bad guys to counterfeit things, he says.

"The hologram definitely is the most secure element to protect products against counterfeiting," says Angela Roggenhofer, healthcare marketing manager of the Americas for Hueck Foils. A 3-dimensional image can not be copied, scanned or duplicated and the attractive appearance adds marketing value, says Roggenhofer. "Its [holograms] higher price is usually more than offset by the gains in protecting your market share and good reputation, and by avoiding the danger of compensation claims by patients who might have taken some counterfeit product," says Roggenhofer.

"I don't believe that one product and one system can protect everything," he says. "There should be a mix of something anyway, but the first line of defense should be visual."

"There's got to be a combination of things," concludes KURZ's Moesgen. "Holograms or OVDs alone won't address all of the potential security problems. Other variables to consider include printing technologies, inks, substrates, and product distribution."