Counterfeit electronic parts are bad. Bad for business. Bad for your brand. Bad for humankind. Counterfeit parts can wreck havoc into your operations, in the form of increased financial costs, damage to your brand, and revenue loss. In addition, counterfeit parts can cause product malfunction or total failure – which at worse, poses serious risk to people and could lead to injury or even death.
And an increasing amount of counterfeit parts are entering the supply chain.
There were a total of 66.91% of parts that were reported to be nonconforming, suspect counterfeit, or counterfeit parts sold by companies not located in China, according to a 2019 report from the ERAI Inc., a global information services organization that monitors, investigates, and reports issues affecting the global electronics supply chain.
That’s an alarming stat. Why? Because it bolsters the awareness that more mitigation is needed. Creating a strategy based solely on not sourcing parts from China-based companies is not adequate enough to avoid counterfeits from entering the supply chain.
The Importance of AS6081
SAE AS6081 is the aerospace standard and provides requirements, practices, methods, and guidance to mitigate the risk of purchasing and supplying suspect counterfeit and counterfeit parts.
Known as SAE AS6081 Counterfeit Electronic Parts: Avoidance, Detection, Mitigation and Disposition for Distributors – it’s the most important and highest standard used by independent distributors to manage suspect counterfeit and counterfeit components.
According to the SAE, AS6081 standardizes practices to:
In essence, AS6081 offers the support you need – everything necessary to maintain policies and procedures to avoid, detect, mitigate, and dispose of counterfeit electronic parts.
Benefits of AS6081
If you’re searching for a distributor to help you procure hard-to-find, obsolete parts – look for a distributor with a rigorous quality management system and counterfeit mitigation process in place to detect, inspect, and verify that your electronic parts are indeed authentic.
Make sure the distributor offers a program that involves:
A solid distributor that adheres to the highest standards of quality control and counterfeit mitigation will have proven certifications like the AS6081, to show for it. Having that certification will give you the assurance that the distributor can deliver authentic electronic products that consistently meet vigorous requirements and standards.
