Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/1527276
42 SMT007 MAGAZINE I OCTOBER 2024 closes with a call to action for EMS companies to actively participate in creating, shaping, and adhering to these standards to protect them- selves and their customers. Nolan Johnson: Counterfeiting of subassem- blies seems to be something we didn't need to think about previously. What do you see? Diganta Das: Counterfeiters are getting much more confident about putting together a whole infrastructure, not just for an individual con- sumer but even commercial B2B purchasers and others. One relatively recent case involved a company and its owner found guilty and sen- tenced for criminal acts in the state of New Jer- sey. In this case, the owner put together a sys- tem infrastructure of gathering and refurbish- ing old network control equipment, adding soware that would beat the detection so- ware, packaging it in authentic-looking boxes, and selling them as new. Government, hospi- tals, schools, and small businesses were among his customers. He had offices, eBay and Ama- zon storefronts, and appeared to be an entre- preneur of the highest level. Aer what was a decade-long investigation, the Department of Justice raided his offices, and his prosecution led to a guilty plea and prison sentence. It's an example of the sophisticated strate- gies used by counterfeiters in other aspects of the supply chain, not just counterfeiting itself. e fraud includes putting up a "storefront" and a respectable appearance that will attract serious buyers. In this particular example, we're talking about a situation where an EMS company doing assembly for an OEM may find themselves accused of counterfeiting or making an infe- rior product that they never put together. Das: at's it exactly, and it's interesting to hear you state that risk; it oen does not come to our mind like that. An almost philosophi- cal debate that occurred as we started this (and isn't fully resolved) is when you find a circuit card (board) that an OEM verifiably makes, and yet a couple of capacitors and a resis- tor turn out to be counterfeit. Does that lit- tle sprinkling of parts make the entire circuit card a counterfeit? One can argue that it does. Incoming inspectors approved this product, which went through their manufacturing pro- cess. e board might even work. Surely, this can be seen as a mistake; we may not need to call the whole board counterfeit. I am sure that is a passionate debate. One counterfeit part puts everything in jeopardy, and the potential liability for most companies is too great, but I guess it also depends on your end market. Das: Yes, and I have heard that counterargu- ment. If even one grain is bad, it makes it all bad. erefore, the whole product is consid- ered counterfeit if any component is coun- terfeit. e EMS company may have installed something as part of another system and passed it all through. ey are now on the hook for lia- bility. Michael Azarian: A lot of literature and some base standards address the parts issue. ings get more complicated when we consider assemblies, for example—when we don't have Diganta Das