Like in many other industries, counterfeiting has also grown into a big problem in the lube market.
Renowned brands, of course, are targeted most often. A recent case involved Sinopecs Great Wall T300, a marine oil. In late August, police in Xiangshan county, Zhejiang province, seized 141 barrels of allegedly counterfeit T300 supplied by a business that claimed to be blending on behalf of Great Wall.
In February, police in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, caught seven underground manufacturers accused of producing fake Shell motor oils. Last year, counterfeit Shell oils were even sold at Chinas leading online business-to-consumer platform, JD.com.
Fake oils indeed present a big challenge for many of our clients, who are actively looking for better solutions to fight against counterfeiting, said Chen Tao, general manager at Mido Intelligent Packaging, a Kunshan, Jiangsu province-based filling and packaging company for liquid products. Midos clients include Total, Sinopec and PetroChina.
Packages, the first impression of a product, are the front of the anti-counterfeiting war. Mido believes smartphones can be an effective weapon for above-board marketers and customers, offering the latter a way to verify a products legitimacy.
Anti-counterfeit stickers or barcodes can be printed or pasted on the package using our laser or labeling machine. With the phone, consumers can just scan the labels or barcodes to know if the oils are authentic, Chen told Lube Report Asia at an exclusive interview at a recent lube forum held by a consulting firm Muchenyou in Xian, Shaanxi province.
Photo: Mido Intelligent Packaging
While Mido itself deploys modern, automated systems, Chen said in general there is a big gap between Chinese packaging companies and their western counterparts.
In the West, the whole filling and packaging process is highly efficient and reliable with automated lines, and we saw new all-in-one products coming up armed with advanced technologies, Chen said. In China, he added, many small companies are competing on price because they lack technologies to deliver quality and they are reluctant to invest in research and development.
Because its clients continue to demand accuracy, efficiency and reliability, Mido is building a 20-meter high warehouse with extensive robotic and computer controls that automatically stores items in three dimensions.
I think the integration of artificial intelligence will be the next big thing in the global packaging field. It is foreseeable that one day we might just manage and control all the production lines through a phone app, Chen said.