Track&Trace Solutions for Product Authentication

The British company Jemella Ltd. is renowned for its professional “good hair days (ghd)” hair styling products. Jemella and Schreiner ProSecure joined forces to develop a product protection program enabling customers to authenticate Jemella products on the Internet while simultaneously providing Jemella with the possibility of tracing its own products.

Jemella’s patented iron has become an indispensable tool for professional hair stylists and is increasingly used by private customers as well. The ghd styler is equipped with unique, powerful ceramic technology and micro processor control. Consequently, the company’s interest in offering security to its customers is equal to the consumers’ interest in buying an authentic product.

One of the key requirements of the project was instantly recognizable product and packaging marking to allow for unambiguous product authentication by everyone involved in the different stages of the distribution chain. Smooth integration of the product and brand protection technology in the regular manufacturing process was another project requirement.
The solution presented by Schreiner ProSecure met Jemella’s exacting demands. By using two highly secure hologram labels equipped with Schreiner ProSecure’s KeySecure Tracing System, the project aims were achieved at minimal cost. The first label is applied to the inside of the stylers during manufacturing, the second one to the product packaging. Both labels are provided with anti-tamper protection and printed with an individual alphanumeric code as well as easy-to-understand instructions for web-based authentication via a secure Internet address provided on Jemella’s website.

The codes are generated by a highly secure computer system combining several encryption technologies such as RC4 and blowfish with 128 bit key length. Each label is printed with a unique code which is issued to the respective production plants according to stringent security procedures. After shipment, the respective code batches are activated through Schreiner’s query system by simply double-clicking a secure link on the enterprises Internet page. Also printed on the labels is a direct phone line. Product authentication can be performed by anyone--particularly the end consumer-- across the whole distribution chain. To prevent the copying of individual codes, the system can be programmed to deny multiple entry of the same code.