Rowa Masterbatch (Pinneberg / Germany; www.rowa-masterbatch.de) is offering pigments that provide counterfeit protection using infrared technology. Plastics and parts are ‘marked’ with an infrared signature by mixing plastic with a few ppm of the chemically inert, mineral pigment, the company says. When the pigment is activated by infrared light, a customer-specific response consisting of one or more light impulses of different wave lengths is sent back. The response is as specific as a barcode, explains Rowa.

According to a survey conducted by Germany’s plastics and rubber machinery association, VDMA (Frankfurt; www.vdma.org), about EUR 6.4 bn was lost through product piracy in the German machine and plant engineering industry in 2010 with the loss in sales revenue per product estimated at 5%.