Caveat emptor
1 min read
We all do it. When we see what we consider to be a 'bargain', we don't always give too much thought to the item's provenance. We might wonder whether the item has been damaged by 'falling off the back of a lorry', but not much beyond that.
But what if you're buying electronic components? Shouldn't you be concerned with where the items have come from?
Counterfeiting is a growing problem in the electronics supply chain and efforts to stamp it out are not succeeding. So if you can't get on top of the 'manufacturing' side of the problem, why not address the 'purchasing' side?
And that's what happening, according to Electronic Components Supply Network chairman Adam Fletcher. He says serious thought is being given to making buyers of counterfeit components 'criminally liable' for their actions. Buyers, he believes, will have to prove they have done everything in their power to avoid purchasing fakes.
It isn't restricted to individual companies: distribution companies have also been inadvertently caught up in the counterfeiting problem. Their customers may buy components from the grey market, use a proportion of the devices then sell the surplus to a distributor, who buys in good faith. Those grey market devices may be counterfeit and so enter the supply chain.
Some fakes are hilariously bad, but others are apparently hard to distinguish from the real thing. So companies of all description will not only need to develop systems that ask serious questions of their suppliers, but may also need to think about 100% inwards inspection.
Caveat emptor, indeed.
