When it comes to buying parts from the open market, organizations must set up a line of defense against counterfeits in their QC departments. This goes for OEM’s, CEM’s, Brokers, etc. The number one way to catch substandard or counterfeit parts is with a well trained QC inspector. There are all kinds of good tools out there to detect counterfeits (Decapsulation, XRF, Curve Trace, X-RAY, etc.), but the well trained inspector with minimal tools remains the #1 way to catch counterfeits and poor quality parts. The use of more expensive tools catches the 1% of counterfeits that as good as the real thing.
How can you assure that your inspectors are well trained and can catch the fakes? Most importantly they need to be an apprentice of a great QC inspector for months. The IDEA-ICE-3000 certification program is an integral part of the inspector training. The certification requires that an inspector is well versed in all of the conditions you can expect when purchasing parts from the open market. The QC inspectors bible is the IDEA-STD-1010, which is full of great pictures, descriptions, and techniques to combat this unique problem. The IDEA certification training includes relevant JEDEC standards as well.
At AERI, all of our inspectors are certified to IDEA-ICE-3000. If you would like to learn more about how to prepare your QC team to catch the fakes, follow the link.
Robb Hammond is the President of AERI and the former chair of the Aerospace Industry’s Counterfeit Electronic Components Mitigation Standard for independent distributors, AS6081, which has become one of the industry’s most respected documents, as well as being adopted by the Department of Defense. Robb is one of the foremost thought leaders in the industry on counterfeit detection and speaks regularly at conferences around the globe.
