Microdotting: beyond vehicles
Microdot technology has proven highly effective in the vehicle sector, both in reducing thefts and in aiding recoveries. Its efficacy has ensured that the scope of potential uses stretch far beyond just vehicles to almost any asset imaginable.
Microdotting is used with great success in countries across the world, and here in South Africa it has proven to be a highly effective deterrent to organised vehicle crime and an indispensible tool in identifying the huge number of unidentifiable vehicles that are recovered and destroyed by the SAPS every year.
The reasons for its efficacy are numerous: low cost, practicality, accessibility, effectiveness and ease of fitment. There simply is no other comparable alternative to securing the identity of an asset.
New applications
It therefore comes as no surprise that this technology is now being used to protect a wide range of assets, such as bicycles, boats, computers, DVD players, jewellery and even cattle.
The low cost and the ease of application has taken microdotting into the consumer market. For example, affordable do-it-yourself microdot kits are available, such as a DIY motor vehicle kit with 15 000 microdots and a domestic kit with 1 000-microdot kit for microdotting the top five assets targeted by thieves: televisions, computers, notebooks, DVDs and music centres.
The kits include warning stickers that warn that the asset is microdotted as a deterrent and allow asset owners to register the microdot asset identification numbers on the supplier’s website so it can be returned to the owner if recovered.
Innovations abound
One of the main players in the industry, DataDot, has developed an exciting new application called trace DNA. It offers many potential applications, one of which is the verification of the identity and batch number of engineered seed. A leading healthcare company uses this technology to verify the authenticity of poppy seeds along its supply chain and interest in the product among manufacturers is mounting.
Another microdotting supplier, Recoveri, is planning to use the technology to curb the theft of copper cables. The solution entails a microthread – a 1 mm × 0.2 mm thread with sequential numbers etched onto it – inserted into the cable. It is impossible to remove from the copper cable, which means any length of copper cable can be positively identified if stolen.
The microthread can also be used to validate university degrees and clothing authenticity, and is perfectly suited for tools, plants and equipment. Using microdots to combat crimes such as poaching is another avenue still to be explored.
Into the future
Compulsory microdotting for vehicles is already on the cards and, although expected to be introduced on 1 January 2011, there is little doubt that the enabling legislation will soon be passed.
The insurance industry, however, may have to take a much broader perspective on the application of this technology which offers great potential to reduce the risk of theft and non-recovery of stolen assets, both in the domestic and corporate sectors, as well as significant scope for further risk management in terms of, for example, traceability and supply chain management.
