Multi-criterial Selection of Track and Trace Technologies for an Anti-counterfeiting Strategy

Offering a large variety of benefits, track and trace technologies are increasingly implemented in recent years. Not only do they allow for quality and efficiency control and improvements, but also serve as anti-counterfeiting measures. The exact technology choice is, however, still the main challenge faced by decision makers. Addressing this selection, this paper enables decision makers to choose appropriate traceability technology for an anti-counterfeiting strategy adapted to the needs of their individual company. The method introduced follows a three step approach: definition of key requirement dimensions, quantification of the introduced dimensions and finally a multi-criteria prioritization model for countermeasures. Focusing on technology choice from an anti-counterfeiting perspective, the deduced selection criteria are furthermore transferable to general supply-chain and industry 4.0 traceability strategies.